Hungary to import gas through Serbia if Ukraine interrupts transit

Serbia will ensure a transit of gas supplies to Hungary if Ukraine should terminate its earlier agreement under which Russian gas is supplied to Hungary via Ukraine, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said on Sunday.

Péter Szijjártó noted Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s talks with the leaders Turkmenistan, Serbia, the Bosnian Serb Republic and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, and Türkiye during the day, and pointed to the importance of close cooperation with central Asia and the Western Balkans. Those ties largely contribute to Hungary’s security from multiple aspects, he added.

“We are in great need of that security, when crises overshadow the everyday life of European countries … close cooperation with countries of central Asia and the Western Balkans will help us cope with the ramifications of those crises,” he said.

Szijjártó stressed that “a fair cooperation with Russia concerning natural gas supplies will help ensure Hungary’s energy security.” Those supplies largely reach Hungary via Ukraine, but “reports in these days suggest that Ukraine wants to terminate its transit agreement with Russia,” he said.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, who is on a working visit to Hungary, has “made it clear that if Hungary wishes to increase gas imports through Serbia, they will ensure the necessary shipping capacities,” Szijjártó said.

“Once again, it has been proven that construction of the Turk Stream pipeline had been a decision of strategic importance,” Szijjártó said.

Szijjártó also noted Turkmenistan’s “political decision” to make Hungary “a destination of possible gas shipments to Europe”. “A political agreement has been signed and now it is up to the companies to negotiate a trade deal,” he added.

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