Hungarians could pay a high price if their ties with Russian energy were severed, Hungary’s foreign minister said on Wednesday. At the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow, Peter Szijjártó rejected pressure to cut imports. He said Hungary’s national interest must guide its energy policy.
Szijjártó said Hungary has already received about 3.6 million metric tons of oil from Russia this year. He expects total imports to reach between 5 and 5.5 million tons by end-2025 and stay the same in 2026.
He argued that calls from Brussels to phase out Russian gas and liquefied natural gas by end-2027 threaten Hungary’s energy security. “We have never been let down (by Russia). The deliveries have always arrived … Contracts were always respected,” he said.
The stance deepens Hungary’s rift with the EU. Despite a 15-year gas deal signed in 2021 for 4.5 billion cubic metres per year, Hungary said it still relies heavily on imports via the TurkStream and Druzhba pipelines.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has said that dropping Russian energy would cause disaster for Hungary’s economy.
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