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Hungary under pressure to stop energy cooperation with Russia — Szijjarto

The Hungarian foreign minister reiterated that if the European Union imposes sanctions on the gas, oil or nuclear industries of Russia, Hungary will use its veto right

ST. PETERSBURG, October 10. /TASS/. External forces are exerting political pressure on Hungary to force it to curtail cooperation with Russia in the energy sector, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto stated in his speech at the St. Petersburg International Gas Forum.

"Of course there is political pressure on Hungary, they want us to stop energy cooperation with Russia," Szijjarto said.

He reiterated that if the European Union imposes sanctions on the gas, oil or nuclear industries of Russia, Hungary will use its veto right. Therefore, at the moment, there have been no sanctions on gas and nuclear fuel supplies, he noted.

Russia remains the main supplier of gas to Hungary. In September 2021, the Hungarian state-owned company MVM signed two long-term contracts with Gazprom, which provided for the supply of a total of 4.5 billion cubic meters per year via pipelines laid through Austria and Serbia, bypassing Ukraine. Since the use of the Nord Stream gas pipeline had to be suspended, an agreement was reached in October 2022 to increase Russian gas supplies to Hungary via the southern route - the TurkStream pipeline and its branch through Bulgaria and Serbia. In 2022, 4.8 billion cubic meters of gas entered Hungary via this route.