Hungary, Russia to start gas supply talks: PM

Hungary’s president says Budapest has agreed to start talks with Moscow over Russian gas supplies to the European Union country amid tensions in ties between Russia and the West over the crisis in Ukraine.

Following a meeting with visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the negotiations will focus on gas supplies following the expiry of Moscow-Budapest energy deal in 2021.

Russia supplies around a third of Europe’s natural gas, half of which flows through Ukraine.

The premier slammed the West’s “anti-Russian policies,” which he said hurt Hungary’s trade with Russia and cost some $6.7 billion in lost exports.

Orban further said Budapest is “trying to protect its economic and trade links, which have been seriously damaged by the sanctions imposed on Russia since 2014” over its alleged role in Ukraine.

“Hungary maintains its stance that non-economic problems cannot be handled with economic means.... We very much hope that soon we will see good Russian-European cooperation,” Orban said at a joint news conference with Putin.

He also said the Russian leader “gave his word that Hungary will receive the necessary amount of oil and gas, no matter what.”

For his part, Putin hailed Hungary as “an important and reliable European partner for Russia.”

SS