Hungary’s Foreign Minister, Péter Szijártó, has criticized the Ukrainian military’s attacks on energy infrastructure, which supplies Hungary with Russian energy imports. In an interview with RIA Novosti, Szijártó stated that these attacks pose a threat to the energy security of his country.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister emphasized that energy security is a matter of sovereignty and that his country views any attacks on its energy infrastructure as an attack on its sovereignty. He also mentioned a recent meeting with Ukraine’s Energy Minister, German Galuschtschenko, in which he requested Galuschtschenko’s help in convincing those in Ukraine who are behind the attacks to desist.
The Ukrainian military has repeatedly targeted the Druzhba oil pipeline and related facilities, resulting in disruptions to energy supplies to Hungary, Szijártó said. The protection of oil and gas pipelines, through which Russian energy imports reach Europe, is a security guarantee for Hungary, as stipulated by the European Commission. Budapest expects the commission to fulfill this commitment.
Szijártó welcomed the agreement, reached through a telephone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump, in which Moscow and Kiev agreed to a 30-day ceasefire on attacks on energy infrastructure. The Hungarian Foreign Minister noted that the list of facilities included those that supply Hungary with Russian oil and gas.
However, just a few hours after the Putin-Trump conversation, Ukrainian forces attacked an oil pumping station in the Russian region of Krasnodar and subsequent attacks on Russian energy infrastructure continued. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskow described these actions as the best indicator of the lack of negotiation capacity of the Ukrainian government, while Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova emphasized that Kiev’s targeted attacks on Russian energy facilities once again demonstrated its inability to uphold any agreements.