BUDAPEST, October 13. /TASS/. Hungary intends to take measures to prevent Bulgaria from raising fees for transiting natural gas from Russia, including through the European Union, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Friday after taking part in the Russian Energy Week in Moscow.

"It seems that new attempts are being made to jeopardize the security of Hungary’s energy supply and make Hungarian-Russian energy cooperation, including the transportation of natural gas, impossible. The Bulgarian parliament adopted a law with unclear background and content that is still quite difficult to understand, according to which the price for the transit of natural gas from Russia through Bulgaria should be sharply increased," Szijjarto said in a video message on his Facebook page (banned in Russia, owned by the Meta corporation, recognized as extremist in Russia).

Szijjarto noted that this law threatens the energy supply not only of Hungary, but also of Serbia, which also receives Russian gas that goes through Bulgaria.

"We are taking steps to ensure that Bulgaria will not be able to implement legislation that will increase tariffs [on pumping gas] for Hungary or Serbia. It is unacceptable for one EU member state to jeopardize the gas supply of another EU member state," he stressed.

He clarified that the Hungarian government has contacted its partners from Bulgaria and Serbia on this matter to prevent a situation where getting Russian oil would become impossible. The Foreign Minister explained that the new Bulgarian law provides for the cessation of transit if the company that pumps fuel through said country does not receive an increased fee for this in accordance with the new tariffs. Previously, the Hungarian government complained about the increase in tariffs for oil transit by Ukraine and Croatia, which justify these steps by citing a generally difficult situation and higher risks associated with the armed conflict in Ukraine.

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