Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs Peter Szijjarto along with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, photo: Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service / AP / Profimedia
Hungary would suffer if it was isolated from Russian energy, Hungary Minister said on Wednesday, in a new visit to Moscow, while also reiterating that his country will not accept what he called “external pressures” on decisions related to energy supply, Reuters reports.
Peter Szijjártó participated in the Russian Energy Week forum (Russian Energy Week), while NATO's defense ministers were in Brussels to discuss military aid for Ukraine – a coincidence that Reuters notes that underline the positions between Budapest and most of the other members of Moscow.
Unlike other European countries such as Germany and Italy, Hungary has not tried after the invasion of Moscow in Ukraine to break up with dependence on energy imports from Russia, which has aroused criticism from several allies in the European Union and NATO.
Szijjártó told Moscow journalists on Wednesday that the national interest is primary for Budapest when it comes to energy supply.
“Russia has never disappointed us. The deliveries have always arrived … The contracts have always been respected. And my question is: Why should we break this relationship?” Said the head of Hungarian diplomacy.
Separately, the Russian Interfax press agency quoted as stating that Russia has provided Hungary to about 3.6 million metric tonnes of crude oil and export between 5 million tonnes – ie 100,000 barrels a day – and 5.5 million tonnes in 2025.
He added that Hungary intends to maintain the same level in 2026.
Hungary's rupture with Brussels on Russian Energy theme deepens
Hungary was opposed to the plans of the European Commission to completely eliminate the imports of natural gas and liquefied natural gas (GNL) from Russia by the end of 2027, thus deepening the break with Brussels regarding relations with Moscow.
In 2021, Hungary signed with Russia a 15 -year contract for the annual purchase of 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas and increased the volume of imports from Gazprom last year, reaching about 7.5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas, transported through the Turkstream pipe.
The country also imports most of its oil in Russia through the Drujba pipe, which passes through Belarus and Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia. The Croatian Janaf pipe operator also transports the oil to the refineries of the Hungarian energy group Mol.
“Brussels wants to force us to give up one of the two pipes, under the pretext of diversification,” said Szijjártó in Moscow.
“How can you consider it safer to have only one pipe instead of two? It's crazy,” he added.
The President of the United States, Donald Trump, said last month that he would urge Hungary to cease Russian oil acquisitions, as part of the efforts to press NATO allies to break energy connections with Moscow because of the Ukraine war.
However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán rejected this request and said that renunciation of Russian energy would be a disaster for Hungary's economy.
