BUDAPEST, June 26. /TASS/. Hungary will be able to pay for Russian gas supplies via OTP Bank until October thanks to a decree by Russian President, which allows making payments for such transactions not only through the authorized Gazprombank but to other banks of the country as well, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, who is in charge of issues of international cooperation in the energy sector in the government, said.
"The good news is that Russia has extended the presidential decree allowing Hungary to pay for natural gas supplies via OTP until October. This will ensure the security of our natural gas supplies in the coming period," he wrote on his Facebook page (Facebook is banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).
Szijjarto added that he was heading to Turkey where he would discuss "how to ensure long-term supplies of cheap Russian energy resources to Hungary." The largest portion of Russian gas is supplied there via the TurkStream pipeline and its extensions through Bulgaria and Serbia.
On June 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin extended the permission for foreign buyers of Russian gas to pay for supplies in rubles not only via Gazprombank authorized for such transactions but also to other Russian banks, which was to expire on July 1, until October 1. The procedure of payments for Russian gas by foreign buyers was updated amid persisting US sanctions against Gazprombank. Previously, foreigners could only convert currency in other Russian banks, but later they still had to transfer rubles received to the account of the Russian gas supplier in Gazprombank.