Szijjarto has been visiting Moscow for talks since the outbreak of the war in neighbouring Ukraine, despite criticism from both sides of the Atlantic. Landlocked Hungary gets 80-85% of its gas from Russia, and Szijjarto said that last year about 80% of crude imports also arrived from Russia.
While countries in western Europe have made serious efforts to wean themselves off Russian gas, under a 15-year deal signed in 2021 Hungary has been receiving 4.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year from Russia, mostly via Turkstream. "Gazprom maintains the option that if we need it, for preparations for winter or filling up storages....we can buy additional gas on top of the amount set in the long-term deal," Szijjarto said.
He said Novak reassured him that gas shipments on the Turkstream pipeline will come without disruptions. Turkstream will be stopped for maintenance from June 5 to 12, according to data posted earlier by Bulgarian gas transmission operator Bulgartransgaz. Szijjarto also said they had agreed with Rosatom to modify a contract signed for the expansion of Hungary's Paks nuclear plant in 2014. He did not give any further details. (Reporting by Krisztina Than and Boldizsar Gyori; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and Sharon Singleton)
