Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjarto said during a visit to Moscow that the country would suffer if it were cut off from Russian energy, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
He reiterated that Budapest would not accept external pressure when it comes to decisions on energy supplies. Szijjarto attended the “Russian Energy Week“ forum as NATO defense ministers discussed military aid to Ukraine, which highlighted Hungary's differences with most members of the Alliance regarding ties with Moscow.
“We have never been disappointed with Russia. Deliveries have always been delivered, contracts have been respected. "And my question is why we should break off these relations," Szijjártó said.
Since the beginning of the year, Russia has supplied about 3.6 million tons of oil to Hungary and plans to export between 5 and 5.5 million tons in 2025, with the country intending to maintain this level in 2026.
Budapest opposes the European Commission's plans to gradually stop Russian gas and liquefied natural gas to the EU by the end of 2027, deepening the rift with Brussels.
Hungary signed a 15-year agreement with Russia for 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas per year, and last year increased its purchases from “Gazprom“ to about 7.5 billion cubic meters through the “Turkish Stream“ gas pipeline. Most of the crude oil is supplied through the Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Belarus and Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia.
“Brussels wants us to cut off one of the two pipelines for the sake of diversification. How can you think that having one pipeline instead of two is safer? This is madness,“ Szijjártó stressed.
Last month, Donald Trump called on Hungary to stop buying Russian oil, and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned that cutting off Russian energy supplies would be catastrophic for the Hungarian economy.