Szijjarto: Left wing seeking to ‘put Hungary at risk’

The government’s position is “not to transport weapons to the war in Ukraine, not to put Hungary at risk and to make every effort to continue guaranteeing the security of Hungary’s energy supplies”, he said.

Szijjarto said Hungary’s opposition was receiving support from international players and media “to cause confusion”. He cited “circulating fake news in recent days about potential difficulties in gas supplies through Bulgaria caused by a dispute between Gazprom and Bulgaria”. Szijjarto said it was a “lie and fake news”, adding that he had talked to his Bulgarian counterpart and also to Gazprom officials. Gazprom has paid the transit fees to Bulgaria and there is no dispute between Gazprom and Bulgaria in terms of gas transits, Szijjarto said, adding that Hungary’s supplies were secure.

A daily 10 million cubic metres of natural gas arrives from the south, through Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia, and some 14 million cubic metres arrives daily from the direction of Austria, he said. Additionally, Hungary now receives between 6 million and 9 million cubic metres of natural gas a day through Slovakia, also from a Russian source, he said.

He said that crude oil supplies were also undisturbed and arrived in line with contracted schedules. A contracted daily 19,000 – 20,000 tonnes of crude oil arrives through the Friendship pipeline, he said.

“Hungary’s energy supplies are secure and they will remain secure as long as we are in government,” he said. The government will not approve any European restrictions that would pose a threat to the security of Hungarian or any other European country’s energy supplies, he said.

“Hungary must stay out of the war next door and as long as the current government is in place, Hungary will stay out of it,” he added.