BUDAPEST, February 24. /TASS/. The United States is interested in maintaining Hungary's energy security and, unlike the European Union, understands its energy problems, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said after his meeting with US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum in Washington.
Prior to the talks, the top Hungarian diplomat said that he planned to inform his interlocutors about Ukraine's attempts at political blackmail by blocking supplies of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline.
"In America, they understand perfectly well that energy supply is a geographical issue. They also understand that our country wants to obtain energy resources from several sources and via several routes," he said after the meeting, as cited by the MTI agency.
"Thus, in terms of Hungary's energy security, we can count on the Americans, who, unlike the Europeans, approach this issue not on an ideological basis but in a very practical way, and this is good for us because we do the same," Szijjarto noted.
He also stressed that "the United States is interested in Hungary’s success in the energy sector because joint work in the nuclear sphere has opened up a new period" in relations between the two countries. "Hungary is interested in expanding its capacities in the nuclear energy sphere while the Americans are interested in participating in its development," he added.
The top Hungarian diplomat visited Washington to take part in an international conference on energy security between the United States and Eastern European countries.