Hungary is buying Russian oil openly because it has no other choice, the country's foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, said today, stressing that “other European countries are secretly buying Russian oil in a roundabout way because it is cheaper“, the Hungarian news agency MTI reported, quoted by BTA.
Szijjarto was asked at a press conference to comment on yesterday's statement by US President Donald Trump, who called on European countries to stop buying Russian oil.
The minister said that the loudest critics of Hungary and Slovakia over where they buy their oil are hypocrites because many of them also buy Russian oil at a discount “through certain Asian countries“.
“They secretly "They buy Russian oil because it is cheaper. We buy Russian oil openly because we have no other choice," he added.
Noting the physical nature of energy supplies, Szijjártó said Hungary should cooperate with Russia to ensure security of supply after the European Union rejected Budapest's requests for help in improving gas supplies through Southeast Europe, while Croatia increased transit fees to five times the European reference values instead of cooperating to expand transit infrastructure.