Hungary refuses to abandon Russian oil despite Trump's demands

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó stated that the country does not intend to stop importing Russian oil, despite demands from US President Donald Trump, reports the Guardian.

According to Szijjártó, securing a stable energy supply without Russian oil and gas is unrealistic due to the current state of the existing infrastructure.

He compared the idea of obtaining energy from other sources to a beautiful dream, as the physical transport routes for energy raw materials are limited.

Trump is demanding that NATO members completely stop buying Russian oil as a prerequisite for tougher sanctions against Russia.

Hungary imports around five million tons of oil from Russia annually via the Druzhba pipeline. Together with Slovakia, it is one of the last two European countries with such a supply model.

The European Union is considering restricting oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline without the unanimous consent of all member states, which could significantly reduce Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia.

At the same time, the process of diversifying energy sources is underway, including a recently concluded long-term contract between Hungary and Shell for the purchase of natural gas.

(sie)