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.