Budapest has no suitable alternative to Moscow’s supplies, Peter Szijjarto insists
Hungary cannot survive without Russian oil, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto warned, stressing that Ukraine’s decision to suspend transit poses a serious challenge for Budapest.
kyiv in June suspended the transit of crude oil supplied by Russian energy giant Lukoil through the Druzhba pipeline, citing sanctions. The move directly hit landlocked Hungary and Slovakia, depriving them of oil previously exported by Lukoil through Ukrainian territory.
In an interview with Russian business daily RBK on Monday, Szijjarto said that Hungary would be completely cut off from oil without supplies from Russia.
“We will not be able to feed the country at large. We simply will not be able to meet the demand for fuel… because we do not have sufficient alternative infrastructure,” said the diplomat.
“Just look at the numbers… We don’t want to take such risks,” Szijjarto added. “The fact that Ukraine has taken such a decision is therefore a very serious challenge for us. This concerns about a third of our imports from Russia. In Slovakia, the situation is even worse, these deliveries account for about 40% of our imports,” he added. he stressed.
In 2018, kyiv imposed sanctions on Lukoil, prohibiting the company from selling its operations in the country, as well as from carrying out commercial operations and participating in the privatization or leasing of state property. Lukoil continued to send crude oil through the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline, as the EU sanctions did not target these flows.
In December 2022, the EU banned the transport of Russian crude oil by sea as part of wide-ranging sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine conflict. Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have been granted exemptions by Brussels to source crude oil alternatively.
Slovakia and Hungary are the only EU member states that have rejected the EU’s policy of providing military aid to kyiv in the conflict with Moscow. Both states have repeatedly called for a diplomatic resolution of the crisis.
Last week, Politico reported that Budapest had proposed a solution to restore disrupted Russian oil flows by rebranding Lukoil products. That way, crude shipped through Ukraine could be officially sold to Hungarian energy giant MOL before it crosses the border. The arrangement could mean paying an extra $1.50 per barrel to secure transit outside of previous agreements.
Szijjarto told RBK that a temporary solution to the crisis situation could be found, stressing that “In the long term, we must look for another legally meaningful solution.”
The Hungarian diplomat visited Russia last week to discuss energy security issues. Budapest is “satisfied with Russian energy cooperation, which is one of the guarantees of the country’s food security,” Szijjarto wrote on Facebook after meeting with the CEO of Russian energy giant Gazprom, Alexei Miller.
RT
