Orbán cabinet continues to reject gas and oil embargo on Russia

Hungary’s stance regarding embargoes on Russia oil and gas has not changed, “we do not support them”, Zoltan Kovacs, the state secretary for international communications, said in a Facebook post on Monday.

Kovács reacted to the German ZDF television channel’s reports on Hungary, Slovakia and Austria withdrawing their veto blocking sanctions on Russian crude oil imports into the European Union.

Citing a high-ranking EU official,

ZDF said that Germany’s announcement to support the veto had tipped the balance, with all EU countries now in favour of stopping the imports of Russian crude oil, as a punitive measure in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

The EU aims to reduce its dependence on Russian oil and gas by two-thirds by the end of the year and to zero by the end of 2027, EU Economic Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni has said.

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MOL

The Hungarian oil group, which operates three refineries in Hungary, Croatia and Slovakia, continues to buy Russian crude via Druzhba pipeline, as well as refined products, says Reuters.

The company said

it would take two to four years and cost between $500 and $700 million to replace Russian oil imports in case of a full European embargo.

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Source: MTI, Reuters