Hungary's FM says Russia assured Budapest of 'uninterrupted' gas shipment amid war

As Russia started cutting gas supplies to several countries amid western sanctions due to ongoing war in UKraine, Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that the Russian government assured Budapest to continue the unhindered supply of gas shipments to the landlocked nation. While speaking to a public service radio on Sunday, Szijjarto said the Russian major energy giant, Gazprom, assured Budapest to supply gas as per the contract, irrespective of so-called "gas constraints" and technical issues. The major development came amid multiple media reports claiming Russia may also cut the gas supply after Gazprom reported "technical issues" in the turbines.

Last week, the Russian gas agency cut the supply to Denmark’s Orsted and to Shell Energy for its contract to supply gas to Germany. Apart from Denmark, it has cut supplies to Dutch gas trader GasTerra as it provides gas to Poland and Finland, saying these countries refused to pay gas prices in Russian currency i.e in roubles. Meanwhile, without providing details of the phone calls, Szijjarto said he had interacted with both Gazprom CEO Alexey Miller and Russia’s deputy prime minister Alexander Novak and the duo assured him to fulfil their obligations towards Budapest.

As per the agreement, the minister said Hungary accepts 3.5 billion cubic metres of gas per year. Besides, it also receives one billion cubic metres via a pipeline from Austria. The Hungarian FM mentioned the contract is valid for 15 years, with a choice to alter purchased amounts after 10 years. Further, he confirmed that the country's energy stock is stable and added the shipments are arriving every day according to the contract. Notably, since the onset of the "special military operation" in Ukraine, the European Union has been encouraging EU nations to reduce their dependence on Russian energy sources.

Hungary's tough stand against the EU and Ukraine

Earlier last month, European Union leaders agreed to embargo most Russian oil imports into the bloc by year-end as part of new sanctions on Moscow. However, Hungary-- a landlocked nation won tough negotiations on Russian oil at a summit in Brussels. The 27 block union allowed a temporary exemption for imports delivered by the Russian Druzhba pipeline to certain landlocked countries in Central Europe, including Hungary.  Notably, Budapest, which gets around 65% of its oil and 85% of its gas from Moscow, was alone among Ukraine’s EU neighbours to refuse to supply it with military aid. It also banned the shipment of lethal weapons into Ukraine across its borders, a policy that drew the fury of many EU leaders and of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Image: AP