Energy – Hungary signs energy agreements with Moscow

The Hungarian government on Tuesday reached an agreement with the Kremlin to increase natural gas flows to Hungary from Russia and renewed a financing agreement for the expansion of a Hungarian nuclear power plant.

The agreements were signed by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto (pictured), and reinforced Budapest’s divergence from the EU’s policy of reducing Europe’s energy dependence on Russia.

Hungary now has the option to get more natural gas from Russia, adding to the existing long-term agreement to stockpile gas before winter. Szijjarto also signed an agreement guaranteeing an increase in oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline that crosses Ukraine.

“Russia has always been a reliable supplier of energy, and in the future we are ready to guarantee supplies to Hungary,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in a statement after today’s meeting and was quoted by international agencies.

He thanked Novak Szijjarto and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for their “constructive cooperation”.

Despite some actions Budapest has taken to diversify its energy imports—purchasing liquefied natural gas (LNG) from offshore terminals in Croatia and Poland, and is currently negotiating with Azerbaijan to import electricity and gas—Hungary continues to prioritize energy in its relations with Moscow.

Szijjarto had already visited Belarus in February, an ally of Moscow and a target of Western sanctions.

The head of Hungarian diplomacy also met today with Alexei Likhachev, CEO of Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear energy company that is overseeing the expansion of the Hungarian nuclear power plant in Pakás.

“As long as energy supply is a physical issue and not a political or ideological issue, Russia and our cooperation with Russia will remain critical to Hungary’s energy security,” Sjärto said in a statement.