Russia

Russian microblogger suggests shooting down NATO planes in Hungary!

NATO Hungary military C-17 aircraft

A Russian Twitter user suggested her compatriots shoot down the C-17 military carriers in Pápa, Hungary. Her tweet has almost 70 thousand views and 830 comments. Shooting these planes down would be an escalation of the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine and a possible start of WW3.

The microblogger did not receive too many positive remarks under her post, portfolio.hu wrote. Many highlighted that shooting down NATO planes would not solve the situation. Thus, the user tweeting under the name of Oksana suggested that Russian aircraft should bomb military airfields.

In her original tweet, Oksana asked whether planes supplying ammunition and arms to Ukraine should be “taken care of” by the Russian military before they land. To support that question, she posted a photo of a C-17 Globemaster carrier serving the military alliance from the Pápa airbase in West Hungary. The military aircraft delivered artillery shells to Ukraine, based on a post shared by Ukraine’s government.

Here is her tweet:

According to portfolio.hu, she received harsh criticism from pro-Ukraine colleagues under the tweet. Users wrote that an act like that could trigger the start of WW3.

One of them said Russia would not be able to fight against the US military. Then Oksana said Russia should bomb the airfields where the carriers take off and land. A Norwegian top commenter said Russia should stop attacking its neighbours and start acting as a functioning member of the world’s community.

Finally, the Russian microblogger turned off the comments. C-17 carriers in Pápa are not Hungarian aircraft despite their base being in Hungary and obtaining a Hungarian mark. All NATO members can use those planes theoretically.

14 hours ago, she tweeted how she liked that her tweet angered NATO fans:

Read alsoAmerican elite paratroopers beat foreign tourists, Hungarian security staff in Budapest club

Dirty deal between President Putin and PM Orbán concerning gas?

putin orbán Will the Budapest meeting of eurozone finance ministers be boycotted?

The Democratic Coalition opposition party has accused Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of striking a “dirty deal” with Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Hungarian gas reserves were “running dry” as a result.

László Varju, DK’s shadow minister for energy and utility affairs, said in a statement on Thursday that the government had “failed to arrange the purchase gas other than Russian gas and has been buying gas from Russia for several times of the world market price” as a result of the “Orbán-Putin deal”.

“While other European Union member states are not allowing themselves to be blackmailed, and refuse to finance Putin’s war, Orbán has opted for dependence on Russian gas,” he said.

“As a result, Hungarians are paying seven times the price of gas, while gas reserves are running dry in the middle of winter,” he added. He said the shadow government was “Hungary’s only hope” when it came to ensuring affordable gas supplies for everyone.

PM Orbán and Putin Russian gas
Read alsoHungary’s Orbán is the only EU leader Putin sent a New Year greeting

Hungary’s Orbán is the only EU leader Putin sent a New Year greeting

PM Orbán and Putin Russian gas

“Vladimir Putin sent out Christmas and New Year wishes to foreign heads of state and government”, kremlin.ru wrote today. The only EU leader who made it to the greetings list was the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, known for his differing opinion regarding the EU sanctions against Russia and the ongoing war in Ukraine. That is the issue that the Russian state-owned domestic news agency, Ria Novosti dissected in their article analysing the reasons why Orbán and the Hungarians were not anti-Russian.

According to kremlin.ru, “Vladimir Putin sent Christmas and New Year greetings to Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orbán, stressing that, despite the complicated international environment, relations between the countries continue to move in a positive direction. The President of Russia also affirmed his intention to continue working together on current bilateral issues”, the President’s official website said.

Based on RTL Klub, a Hungarian commercial TV channel, the following heads and prime ministers of states received a greeting from Putin: Abkhazia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, South Ossetia, Bolivia, Brazil, Venezuela, Vietnam, India, China, Cuba, China, Nicaragua, Serbia, Syria, and Turkey. Orbán was the only EU leader Putin wished a happy new year. Among the NATO member countries, only Orbán and Erdogan (Turkey) made it to Putin’s holiday greetings list.

Vladimir Putin also sent congratulatory messages to former heads of foreign states and governments, in particular, Silvio Berlusconi, Robert Kocharyan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Serzh Sargsyan and Gerhard Schröder, the website reported.

According to index.hu, the Russian state-owned domestic news agency, Ria Novosti, published an article in which they were speculating on why Orbán and the Hungarians were not anti-Russian. They started discussing the matter by dissecting Orbán’s latest statement, in which he claimed that Ukraine could only fight until the USA supported Kyiv with money and arms. Therefore, provided Washington wanted peace, there would be peace. MEP Guy Verhofstadt said that Orbán was a traitor because of that sentence. Ukraine argued Orbán wanted their defeat, but he should convince the Russians to finish their aggression. That is the only way to attain peace, they added.

The Hungarian prime minister’s words resonated with the Russians. Ria Novosti said Orbán should have taken the side of Washington, referring to the Soviet intervention in 1956 in the Ukrainian conflict, as an example. But instead, Hungarians are one of the most Russian-friendly nations of the EU. They said Russia expected Budapest to become a capital of Russophobia like Warsaw or Tallinn.

Orbán did not change, they believe. He is a national conservative, anticommunist and Christian politician.

Ria Novosti also highlighted that Orbán and his government followed national interests and defied even countries more powerful than Hungary. The paper suggested Russia should have sought an alliance with countries showing self-respect. “There is the Hungarian nationalism and the narrow nationalism. Big difference, one must understand”, they added.

Kremlin: Hungary will occupy Ukraine’s western territories in 2023

dmitri_medvedev Russia Orbán

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has posted his (and the Kremlin’s) predictions for the coming year on his Twitter page. Needless to say, most of them are absolutely bold. He did not forget to include Hungary in his visions. Read our article to find out what he predicts for 2023.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, now chairman of the Russian National Security Council, has posted some stark predictions for 2023 on his Twitter page. It is not clear how much of it is trolling, Portfolio writes, but some of the predictions seem to be quite surreal. Some of them even mention Hungary directly.

Medvedev begins his line of thought by saying that he sees a race on for “futuristic and absurd” predictions for the year 2023, and therefore publishes “their contribution on the subject.” It is worth noting that the Russian politician uses the plural, so he is not just presenting his own thoughts.

The predictions

Medvedev’s (and the Kremlin’s?) predictions are as follows:

  1. Oil prices rise to USD 150 per barrel and gas to USD 5,000 per 1,000 cubic metres;
  2. The UK rejoins the EU;
  3. After the British return, the EU will collapse and the euro will disappear;
  4. Poland and Hungary occupy the western territories of the defunct Ukraine;
  5. Germany and its “satellite countries” will create a “fourth empire”, which will include the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Baltic countries, Poland and “the Republic of Kiev, as well as other outcasts.”
  6. France and the Fourth Empire will go to war with each other, and Poland will be divided between them.
  7. Northern Ireland secedes from the United Kingdom and joins Ireland.
  8. Civil war in the United States: California and Texas become independent states. Texas and Mexico will join forces, and Elon Musk will become president of “the states won by the Republican Party in the new civil war.”
  9. The biggest stock exchanges and financial companies leave the US and Europe and move to Asia.
  10. Collapse of the Bretton Woods system, collapse of the IMF and the World Bank. The euro and dollar lose their status as the world’s reserve currencies, replaced by digital currencies.

“Happily oinking piglets”, Musk’s reaction

Finally, Medvedev sends a festive greeting to their “friends”:

“Season greetings to you all, Anglo-Saxon friends, and their happily oinking piglets!”

In the comments, Elon Musk calls the predictions utterly absurd. He wrote “Those are definitely the most absurd predictions I’ve ever heard, while also showing astonishing lack of awareness of the progress of artificial intelligence and sustainable energy.” Four hourse before that, though, he replied “Epic thread!!”

PM Viktor Orbán
Read alsoOrbán: we have no interest in severing all economic ties with Russia – interview

Orbán: we have no interest in severing all economic ties with Russia – interview

PM Viktor Orbán

While “Hungary’s government is supporting Ukraine and has a vested interest in its sovereignty and we have an interest in Russia not posing a threat to Europe’s security, we have no interest in severing all economic ties with Russia,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told the daily Magyar Nemzet.

In an interview published on Saturday, Orbán said “we stand on the Hungarian side of history.”

Orbán said 2022 had been the “most dangerous year since the change of regime” in 1989, as Hungary was in danger of being dragged into the conflict.

“Had left-wing parties won [in the general election] in April, we would be up to our necks in it. Hungary is the only European country to have managed to stay away from this war because Hungarians voted for that,” he insisted, reports Magyar Nemzet.

Growing energy prices are another threat to Hungary, he said. The costs of energy imports have grown from 7 billion euros “before the sanctions” imposed by the European Union on Russia to 17 billion this year, he said.

“If a Christmas angel wiped away energy-related sanctions, energy prices would fall immediately,”

he said, adding that Hungarian inflation would also plummet and the country could plan with a 5 percent growth rather than the current 1.5 percent.

The war may be drawn out for decades, Orbán said. “But Ukraine can fight only as long as the United States supports it with weapons and money… so if the Americans want peace, there will be peace,” he added.

Ukraine, as a sovereign state, cannot be expected to sacrifice part of its territory for European peace, energy security and welfare, he said. “But we can decide to what extent we support them. Hungary has decided to provide humanitarian aid as this war is not our war.”

Orbán said the government planned to push inflation back into single digits by the end of next year.

He called central bank governor György Matolcsy’s recent criticism of the government’s work “unusual”, adding that the governor’s job to handle inflation had put him “in a difficult spot”. At such times, “it is understandable if one chooses unorthodox ways of behaviour in public,” he said.

Meanwhile, the government will make the home purchase subsidies for families (CSOK) more targeted in the second half of next year, Orbán said. The subsidies for home buyers in small localities will remain unchanged, he said.

At the same time, women raising children will be exempt from personal income tax until the age of 30, he added.

In connection with a former Vice President of the European Parliament detained on suspicion of corruption, Orbán said it was time to “drain the swamp” and “revive” a proposal by Hungary to disband the current EP and replace it with an assembly of the representatives of national parliaments.

“The root of the problems” is that “Hungarians and Westerners” have different visions of their future, Orbán said.

“We do not want to become a country of immigrants, we don’t want to allow gender activists into our schools or dismantle the normal framework of family life, we don’t want war or sanctions, and we want to maintain our connections with the non-Western parts of the world,” he said.

Referring to allegations that Hungarian opposition parties had accepted support from abroad during the spring election campaign, Orbán said “the Hungarian Left could be bought but not Hungary”. “As long as our national and political community stand together, Hungary’s independence will not be for sale,” he said.

weapon, Hungary, arms, trading, explosives, army
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PHOTOS: new nuclear fuel rods arrived from Russia to Paks adventurously

Fuel-rods-Paks-Russia

The Paks Nuclear Power Station has received a shipment of nuclear fuel rods which will guarantee the secure operation of the power plant for several months, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Thursday.

During the energy crisis, it has become especially important if a country can produce for itself the majority of electricity needed, Szijjártó said on Facebook. In Hungary, the Paks Nuclear Power Station provides half of the electricity produced and covers one-third of the consumption, he added.

“The secure and predictable operation of the power station is crucial for our energy security. It requires nuclear fuel, which we import from Russia,” he said.

Szijjártó added that the fuel had arrived on a new route after train transport through Ukraine and air transport through the northern part of central Europe had become impossible.

“Thanks to a fair approach by our Bulgarian and Romanian partners,” a mixed solution has been developed, he said. The fuel rods have been transported by boat to Bulgaria, then transferred to a train which transported them through Romania to Hungary.

Here are some photos:

paks_nuclear_plant_hungary
Read alsoNew Hungarian nuclear power plant could be built on fault line?

Hungarian Speaker: Crimea belongs to Ukraine

Speaker parliament Ukraine Kövér

A sovereign, strong and democratic Ukraine which provides opportunities to its citizens, including its ethnic Hungarian minority, is in Hungary’s national interest, Speaker of Parliament László Kövér said late on Tuesday.

The war between Russia and Ukraine has changed the world’s geopolitical map, Kövér told commercial broadcaster Inforadio. When the sanctions against Russia were first imposed it became increasingly clear that there were aspirations to cut Russia off Europe and the European Union both politically and economically by “lowering a new Iron Curtain”, the speaker said. These aspirations, he added, “aren’t necessarily initiated by Europe, but the European political elite, for some reason, has become an enthusiastic supporter of them”.

Kövér said this meant that the vast economic and political cooperation based on mutual interests which could have established a unified Eurasia stretching from Portugal to Southeast Asia “seems to be failing at the moment”. He said Russia could not be absolved of the accusation of aggression either on the basis of international law or moral rules. “The one who fires the first shot is fundamentally the one that is responsible,” he added.

Kövér added, at the same time, that the West had also made a strategic error by trying to pull Ukraine away from Russia’s sphere of influence and turn the country into a highly-populated armed base against Russia. The speaker said the West’s sanctions policy had hurt Europe a lot more than it had Russia. He added that central Europe should fight against becoming “the periphery of a North Atlantic empire” and should instead remain a “mediation zone”. He said the armed conflict should be brought to an end as soon as possible and be followed by the establishment of a new central European or European peace regime in which countries take each other’s security needs into consideration.

As regards Ukraine, Kövér said there was still much to do until the country could truly be considered for European Union membership. This is where Hungarians’ interests lie, so this has to be the aim, he said, adding that Ukraine had to reclaim its sovereignty within its internationally-defined borders, including Crimea.

This can only change with Ukraine’s consent, he said.

Concerning NATO, the speaker said the alliance was forced to be on the defensive and had to prepare for “the unlikely scenario” that Russia will expand the war to the territory of a NATO country. He praised NATO’s political and military leadership for their “wise course of action” to prevent the war from escalating.

On another subject, Kövér said there was a visible divide in central Europe between the Baltic States, Poland and Romania, which he said wanted to force Europe to permanently cut ties with Russia, and Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary “which are more pro-peace”. “We should sit down and discuss understanding each other’s positions,” he said.

Kövér said he would welcome if the Visegrád Group comprising Hungary, Czechia, Poland and Slovakia could return to the path they were on when the focus had been on their common interests and issues they agree on.

Concerning sanctions, he said a middle ground should be found, adding, however, that “it would’ve been best if we hadn’t gone down the path that already looked like a dead end.” He said if the best the Hungarian government could do was isolate Hungary from the effects of the most harmful sanctions, then the right thing to do was to focus on that and compromise whenever possible.

As regards the EU’s conditionality procedure, Kövér said Hungary had fulfilled all of the commitments it had agreed on with the European Commission. Further commitments will be passed in the spring legislative session, he added. Kövér also said parliament was set to approve Finland and Sweden’s NATO bids early in the spring session. Meanwhile, the speaker said he expects the end of the Russia-Ukraine war and its impacts to be the main issue of the 2024 European parliamentary elections.

Pro-govt survey: Europeans want peace, not sanctions

ukraine war

Europeans want peace, not sanctions, according to a survey by the pro-government Századvég Institute published on Tuesday, which found that Europeans expect leaders to try to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine and a peace agreement as swiftly as possible.

The think-tank said the “Western political elite” had concentrated more on punishing Russia than on fostering peace talks, adding that EU sanctions and foreign policy had stalled the possibility of securing peace between Ukraine and Russia.

In Hungary 62 percent of respondents to Századvég’s survey found the war “highly concerning”, while 31 percent found it unsettling, while in Germany the corresponding ratios were 51 percent and 30 percent.

The only EU member state where a majority did not find the war to be quite so worrying was Slovakia, (48 percent and 41 percent, respectively). One explanation for this is that Slovaks may be more preoccupied with domestic problems, the think-tank said.

Fully 82 percent of respondents to the Europe-wide survey were in favour of prioritising peace and forcing Russia and Ukraine to negotiate an end to the war.

Divisions are apparent along the lines of states which are pro-sanctions and anti-sanctions/pro-peace, Századvég said.

There is a preponderance of southern states whose respondents were in favour of forcing negotiations (91 percent in Cyprus, 89 percent in Portugal and Greece) than rejecting sanctions. In Hungary, the corresponding ratio is 88 percent, the think-tank said.

The think-tank said that whereas in all countries surveyed there was a majority for swift peace talks, “this proportion is lower in the pro-sanctions member states”.

Fully 42 percent of Estonians, 36 percent of Latvians, 31 percent of Poles, and 29 percent of Lithuanians do not agree with forcing peace talks.

In addition to the EU member states, the research covered the United Kingdom, Norway, Switzerland, Moldova, Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria and Bosnia-Herzegovina, with 38,000 randomly selected adults interviewed by phone between October 13 and December 7.

budapest bad weather
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Croats are abusing the war situation and Hungary’s energy security vulnerability, says foreign minister

energy crisis eu brussels

Instead of dealing with pressing energy issues such as the search for new energy resources and the development of infrastructure, the European Union has wasted time in the last few months on moves to cap the price of gas, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said in Brussels on Monday.

After a meeting of EU energy ministers, Szijjártó said Hungary completely rejects introducing a “harmful, dangerous and totally needless” price cap, a ministry statement said.

The bloc is acting on facts that were relevant in August, but Europe has managed well without the price cap in the meantime, the minister said, adding that the cap risked bumping up prices if less gas is available as a result or if the cap’s threshold is above current market prices.

Szijjártó said this kind of market intervention was “dangerous and irresponsible”, and he called for a thorough preliminary investigation before any action is taken.

He called for an increase in the amount of gas but this, he said, required improvements to infrastructure, adding that there was little point in adding LNG ports in various parts of Europe if the pipeline network was insufficient.

In a “test vote” on the proposal to cap the gas price, 9 member states including Hungary voted against, but this was not enough to form a blocking minority, he noted.

burner natural gas
Read alsoTurns out Hungarians really did overuse gas because it was cheap

“However many voting rounds there may be today, Hungary will vote no,”

he said, referring to today’s meeting of EU energy ministers. “Pipelines must be built, LNG ports must be built, and new resources found,” he said.

On the subject of central Europe’s supplies of crude oil, he noted that 19 million tonnes of Russian crude is delivered to Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia each year through the Druzhba pipeline. The only alternative route, the Adria pipeline, carries only 12 million tonnes annually, Szijjato said. “This has been common knowledge for at least half a year, yet nothing has been done to expand it,” he said, calling it a “huge mistake” on the part of the European Union.

Meanwhile, the minister said Croatia had made an “unfair” offer when it came to extending Hungarian oil and gas company MOL’s contract which expires at the end of the year, noting that the transit fee would balloon by 80 percent.

He accused

the Croats of “abusing” the war situation and their monopoly, as well as the energy security vulnerabilities of Hungary and Czechia.

Hungary has turned to the European Commission on creating a proposal on ensuring that prices related to routes necessitated by the war should not exceed the European average, he said.

MOL Hungary pipeline oil refinery bulgaria ukraine
Read alsoHungarian minister outraged: Croatia to increase oil transit price brutally in 2023

How did Russian sanctions affect the Hungarian economy?

PM Orbán and Putin Russian gas

The natural gas price rose by 300 percent, while the price of electricity grew by 400 percent. The volume of exports grew, yet the balance sheet is negative by EUR 4.9 billion compared to last year. Just like with every country, the war in Ukraine caused a lot of trouble in the overall economic situation. But what are the details? How did sanctions against Russia affect the Hungarian economy?

According to VG.hu, Hungarian exports were growing in the first half of 2022. The problem is that imports also grew drastically. This means that the terms of trade worsened by a large margin this year. Experts say that this is due to rising natural gas and electricity prices. Hungary trades a lot more, but it still imports more than it exports, which has been the trend in 2021 and 2022.

Details

The most significant increase in imports was in the case of natural gas, oil and electricity. The price of these grew by 275 percent and 420 percent respectively. However, there was a significant 150-200 percent rise in prices in terms of instruments, oils, metallurgical products, cereals, vegetables and fruits.

In terms of exports, electronic items made up 28.9 percent and the car industry made up 18.6 percent of the total volume. A significant rise is observable in agricultural products. In this, the agricultural industry grew by 60 percent, animal husbandry by 31.2 percent and the food industry by 25.7 percent. Other industries brought the expected growth rates, only the manufacturing industry experienced a decrease in exports.

One important thing has to be mentioned: fertilisers. The natural gas shortages made fertiliser production a lot more expensive and it led to a drastic growth in fertiliser prices. Now there is a shortage of fertiliser and a scramble for the remaining supplies. All over Europe, countries experienced immense growth in fertiliser exports.

The direction of trade is still towards the European market, which has grown since the start of the war and it now stands at 76.8 percent. A significant change here was that the United States became one of the top 10 trading partners for Hungary while the United Kingdom got out of this category. The largest trading partner still remains Germany.

Effect of the sanctions on the Hungarian economy

The problem was caused by the decrease in exports towards the Community of Independents Nations. Exports towards Tajikistan decreased by 88.9 percent, 43 percent towards Turkmenistan, 31.1 percent towards Belarus and 23.5 percent towards Russia. A significant portion of exports now cannot reach Russia, which imported a lot of Hungarian products. Despite the drastic fall, this market did not make up a significant portion of Hungarian exports. Of course, there was a drop in the export towards Ukraine too. The drop in exports is not that significant for the Hungarian economy.

Hungary real estate market Budapest
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Hungary helps Putin’s ministers in the EU?

Putin and Orbán

Hungary would like three Russian ministers to be exempted from the new EU sanctions, EUobserver wrote on Friday based on information from unnamed diplomats. According to the online news outlet, Hungary insisted Nikolay Grigoryevich Shulginov, the Russian minister for energy, sports minister Oleg Maticin, and Mikhail Murasko, the Russian Minister of Health, be taken out from the latest EU sanction package.

Hungary helps the Russians?

Before, the EU ambassadors of the 27 Member States agreed to introduce the ninth round of anti-Russia sanctions. They wrote down the new measures on Friday without any further debate.

The Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, told the press after the summit that the new sanctions will consider almost 200 Russian individuals. European media reported in June that the EU did not introduce sanctions against Kirill, the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus’, and the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Vetoing the possible sanctions against the three Russian ministers fits into that pattern, index.hu suggests. The Hungarian threat of a possible veto came last minute. One EU diplomat dubbed it a “political corruption” sending the message to Putin that Hungary is ready to save anybody put on the blacklist. EUobserver recalled that Hungary was not the only member country following individual interests. For example, Belgium managed to “talk the EU out of a Russia-diamond ban that would have cost thousands of jobs in its Antwerp diamond-trading centre.”

Furthermore, EUobserver writes that “Russia’s fertiliser and chemicals barons will partly get off the hook on EU sanctions after a last-minute deal in Brussels on Thursday”

Putin does not seem to be worried

Russian President Vladimir Putin is not worried because of the ninth sanctions package. Index.hu writes that his official communication does not suggest excitement. Putin argued that Russia tackles the harmful effects of the EU sanctions by selling gas to their Eastern neighbours. He probably meant China and India.

At a Thursday meeting, Russian officials told Putin that the nuclear power’s GDP is expected to decrease by 2.5 percent in 2022. Before, estimates went much higher and two-digit numbers circulated in the issue for a long time.

“The Western countries try to push Russia to the periphery. But we will never choose the way of self-isolation. On the contrary, we will expand cooperation and economic ties with everybody interested”, the lord of the Kremlin stated.

Read alsoRussian spy tried to smuggle information to Budapest in his rectum

Hungarian minister outraged: Croatia to increase oil transit price brutally in 2023

MOL Hungary pipeline oil refinery bulgaria ukraine

Foreign minister Péter Szijjártó was the guest of the Spirit FM’s Harcosok klubja (Fighters’ Club) and talked about a recent Croatian decision concerning the Adria oil pipeline (Trans Adriatic Pipeline – TAP). He said that the Croatians would like to increase the transit price of crude oil 2.5 times from 2023 which is unacceptable for Hungary. Therefore, they reported the issue to the European Union and would like the European Commission to act in favour of the oil buyers: Czechia, Slovakia and Hungary.

Mr Szijjártó said that the TAP pipeline through Croatia was Hungary’s sole crude oil source provided Russian oil deliveries through Ukraine on the Druzhba pipeline came to a halt. And that can happen because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, during which the Russian invaders have been intentionally attacking the Ukrainian energy network for weeks. The Hungarian foreign minister argued that under such circumstances, no country should take advantage of import-dependent states like Hungary, ATV wrote.

However, Croatia means to increase the transit price of the crude oil coming through their TAP from 2023 concerning the Czech, Slovak and Hungarian imports. Therefore, the Hungarian government wants the European Commission to act swiftly and make the Croatians drop that idea. Instead, Szijjártó would like the Croatians to increase the capacity of the TAP because, currently, it cannot to supply the three Central European countries. Furthermore, there will be a meeting of EU ministers responsible for energy issues in Brussels. Szijjártó would like to include the Croatian transit price increase in the agenda.

Energy emergency board discusses supply situation, prospects

The operative board handling the energy emergency on Friday discussed the situation of Hungary’s energy supplies and related prospects and import options, the energy ministry said.

The board set up by the government in the summer also reviewed topical issues in the energy industry under the helm of Energy Minister Csaba Lantos, the ministry said in a statement. The operative board’s tasks will continue to be to work towards ensuring the protection of utility price cuts, securing energy supplies for the country and protecting Hungarian families, the ministry said.

Could Hungary be facing oil shortage?
Read alsoSevere oil shortage hitting Hungary soon?

Hungarian FM: The gas cap proposal is harmful and dangerous

Szijjártó Péter

Though European Union member states have yet to reach a decision on the introduction of a price cap on gas imports, Hungary has succeeded in having two “particularly dangerous” provisions removed from the proposal put forward by the Czech presidency, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said in Brussels on Tuesday.

The Hungarian government maintains its position that introducing a price cap on gas “is a bad idea and it is useless”, Péter Szijjártó told a press conference, after a meeting of EU energy ministers. He said that most EU member states, with the exception of Hungary, would accept the introduction of a price cap, but stated different opinions concerning the details of the planned measure.

“We think that the price cap is a bad thing, it is unnecessary and it is a dangerous idea raised as a solution to tackle the energy crisis,” Szijjártó said. The measure, if introduced, would be “a rude artificial intervention in the gas market, something the EU has never done before”, he said, calling such a step “extremely dangerous” in an important, sensitive and vital market without an impact study at hand.

Szijjártó said the price cap had been designed as a measure to respond to record high gas prices in the summer, noting however that prices had gone down and stabilised without any intervention in the past couple of months. He warned that the scheme could also allow wide-scale speculation, putting the EU at a disadvantage.

What’s even more important is that the proposal would seriously endanger energy security, Szijjártó said, arguing that it was physically impossible to completely replace Russian natural gas in the medium term, and the price caps would further reduce the volume of gas the bloc would have access to.

“The whole proposal is harmful, dangerous and threatens the security of European energy supply,” Szijjártó said, adding that it gave room to speculation and could lead to price increases. He said the plan went against the European Council’s guidelines according to which the price cap could not apply to long-term supply agreements and had to take into consideration the specific energy situation of member states.

Szijjártó said the price cap interfered with pricing on the Dutch TTF gas hub and would impact long-term gas supply agreements. At the same time, the minister welcomed that two provisions had been removed from the proposal. One of them concerned the regulation of prices when it came to transactions outside the gas exchange, Szijjártó said, adding that this would have restricted member states’ freedom to procure gas as it would have made bilateral agreements without the application of the price cap impossible.

The other proposal would have required member states to consult the European Commission prior to amending any long-term gas supply deals, Szijjártó said, adding that this provision “would have totally destroyed the security of Hungarian gas deliveries”. As no agreement was reached at Tuesday’s meeting, the price cap plan will be back on the agenda next week, the minister said.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó said he had spoken to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak by phone on Monday, who he said had “expressed openness” to amending the long-term gas delivery agreement between the two countries if it became necessary because of the price cap. “What matters most to us is the security of Hungary’s natural gas supply; this is what we have to guarantee, this is the top priority,” the minister said.

Asked about Monday’s agreements among EU finance ministers concerning Hungary, Szijjártó said Hungary had fulfilled all of the European Commission’s demands and expectations for unblocking funding. He welcomed that the EU had “finally listened to and considered” Hungary’s stance when it came to providing aid to Ukraine and the aid package being provided to the country will now be covered by the EU budget.

Concerning the global minimum tax, Szijjártó also welcomed that it had been made clear that the local business tax can be included in the calculation of the minimum tax, allowing Hungary to introduce it without having to raise taxes.

sun beach resort uae
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Crude oil to continue to come from Russia to Hungary

MOL Hungary pipeline oil refinery bulgaria ukraine

The government has reached an agreement with the EU to continue oil imports from Russia, yet the country needs imports from other sources to guarantee domestic fuel supplies, Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said on an extraordinary press conference held yesterday evening.

He said the price increase of gas, electricity and fuel had begun a lot earlier, but “the fact that it has become this steady can certainly be attributed to the Russian aggression [against Ukraine] and sanctions imposed on Russia in response”.

He said that scrapping the price caps would trigger inflation the rate of which would depend on the average price of petrol and diesel. The government has maintained the price caps scheme as long as possible, Gulyás said. Even with the price increase, Hungary will be among the lower one-third of countries in terms of fuel prices in Europe, he said.

forint historic lows
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Answering another question, Gulyás said that MOL had written “an entirely clear” letter to the energy minister concerning the safety of Hungary’s energy supplies. “This is why we could not wait any longer. We would have loved to maintain the price caps, but it has become impossible,” he said. Gulyás noted that while Hungary had managed to maintain the price cap scheme for 13 months, there were countries elsewhere in Europe where petrol cost an equivalent of 1,000 forints per litre. “This, if you will, we can call success, it is just too bad that it is over,” he said, adding that the government expected no chaotic situation to develop in future because “the option of imports would be restored”.

Zsolt Hernádi, the CEO of MOL, answering a question, said the fuel price caps had caused a great loss to MOL and was “a painful period” for the company. He said fuel deliveries to small pumps would be gradually increased.

MOL fuel station
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Russian spy tried to smuggle information to Budapest in his rectum

According to the Security Service of Ukraine, a Russian soldier tried to personally transport information to the Russian embassy in Budapest. He planned to do this by hiding a pendrive in his rectum. Although the rectum of the spy might be interesting, the fact that he tried to smuggle information to Budapest is a bit more concerning.

At the end of November, the Ukrainian special forces captured a suspected Russian spy at the Hungarian-Ukrainian border. The man was a former employee of the Ukrainian ministry of domestic affairs. According to the Security Service of Ukraine, he collected secret information about the Ukrainian law enforcement services and personnel, reports 444.hu.

The stolen data contained information about the leaders of the SBU (security service) and GUR (intelligence), the Azov movement and the 72nd mechanised brigade. There was also information about the location of Ukrainian military bases and storage units. The goal was to transfer this data to the Russian embassy in Budapest on a pendrive.

Russian intelligence centre in Budapest

This incident might be proof that Budapest became the regional centre for Russian intelligence. In 2021, 46 diplomats worked at the embassy in Budapest. After the war broke out, most European countries expulsed many diplomats. Following this, the number of diplomats in Budapest grew to 50 and by the summer, 6 more have arrived. In comparison, there are only 35 Russian diplomats in London for example.

The government does not seem to be very concerned about this. Russian hackers have had access to the computers in the ministry of foreign affairs for about 10 years. Later, they were able to continue this activity despite the fact that the Hungarian government knew about it. It is very likely that the Russian spies do not operate exactly where they collect information. A large number of Russian diplomats provides the perfect base for operations to carry out covert operations.

Martin Müller, a former Austrian military officer and Russian spy colonel, regularly meets his contact at Hévíz. While two GRU agents also visited the Russian embassy, they were later suspected of exploding a Czech ammunition depot. Russian hackers in the ministry of foreign affairs did not just stop at collecting data about Hungary. They even broke into the Secured Foreign Network too, where NATO and EU documents also arrive. These attacks are usually not aimed at Hungary, but they are used to collect data for attacks against the USA.

The head of the National Cybersecurity Institute, Szabolcs Panyi said that Russia extorts the Hungarian government with its energy dependency. However, he added that this does not explain why the government keeps undermining EU efforts to sanction Russia or why they let Russian spies to do basically whatever they want.

Foreign minister Hungary Péter Szijjártó
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Severe oil shortage hitting Hungary soon?

Could Hungary be facing oil shortage?

Last week the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline, which carries oil to Hungary, faced disruption once again. Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó stated it was likely that Russian attacks damaged the Ukrainian electrical systems responsible for powering the pipeline. Although operations continued much faster than was initially expected, the question arises as to whether it is possible that another similar occurrence will lead up to a long-term shortage of Russian oil.

The events of August already showed us that relying on the Druzhba pipeline in the midst of the war can lead to great uncertainty. Back then, the disruptions were also due to the newly imposed economic sanctions against Russia. Hungarian companies expect further incidents as well as possible delays regarding the Ukrainian energy grids. They reason that even the Ukrainian companies operating the energy grids have not scheduled a date to repair the previous damage due to their scarce resources and lack of workforce.

Read more: Hungary could be given exemption from EU’s oil price cap

Increased transit fee

What worsens the situation is that Ukrainian transit companies are planning to increase the transit fees Russia has to pay, which Putin will likely not accept eagerly. G7.hu said, one possible solution could be to dump the additional costs on the consumers. A similar incident occurred in August when Russia was unable to pay the transit fees to Ukraine due to the economic sanctions, and as a result, Ukrtransnafta shut down its oil transportation. The Hungarian oil and gas company, Mol offered to cover the expenses, hence, the oil flow continued uninterruptedly.

According to G7.hu, Ukrainian companies might also suggest to Mol and Hungary that they should solve the transportation issues by themselves if they insist on purchasing Russian oil. At the end of the day, cheaper oil may not be worth it in the long run if transportation is so unpredictable and problematic. Apart from Hungary, other countries (e.g. Slovakia, Czechia) are also dealing with the same issue.

The burning question

But with all that uncertainty, why do Hungarian companies keep on relying on Russian oil? According to Mol’s earlier statement issued in spring, it would require several hundreds of millions of dollars and two to four years in order to make the Százhalombatta refinery become independent from Russian crude oil and be able to process other kinds of oil. Besides, Mol is currently facing more urgent issues, concerning its Pozsony refinery. They export oil abroad but the recently introduced Slovakian regulations will make that impossible, as of next year. Although the changeover of the Százhalombatta refinery is not an urgent matter at the moment, experts believe that Hungary must find a prompt solution to prevent the potential exhaustion of its oil reserves.

Read more: Hungary has not received Russian oil deliveries for 3 days!

Author: Hanga Kiss

Government knows how they could reduce Hungary’s dependency on Russian gas

burner natural gas

Natural gas plays a crucial role in Hungary’s energy supply, but one way to reduce this dependency is by increasing electricity imports, which the government is working on, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said in Slovenia’s Cirkovce on Friday.

One of the most oft-repeated words in the European debates on energy is “diversification”, which to Hungary means procuring as many types of energy sources from as many resources and via as many routes as possible, a foreign ministry statement cited Péter Szijjártó as saying. Hungary has therefore launched two critical projects aimed at guaranteeing the country’s long-term electricity security, Szijjártó said.

He welcomed the successful completion of one such project with the linking of Hungary and Slovenia’s electrical grids. The second one entails the supply of green electricity to Hungary from Azerbaijan via Georgia and Romania, the minister said, adding that the agreement on the transmissions will be signed in Bucharest in two weeks’ time. “This will not only boost the security of our energy supply but also allow us to consider environmental protection aspects and maintain Hungary’s lead position when it comes to responsible, eco-friendly energy consumption,” Szijjártó said.

PM Viktor Orbán
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Hungary’s import and consumption of electricity will now become more secure and balanced, he added. Szijjártó noted that Slovenia was the only one of Hungary’s seven neighbours with which it had yet to link its gas supply network. “I have to say that this hasn’t been and isn’t up to us,” Szijjarto said. “We’ve initiated this several times.”

Slovenia’s past governments “did not support these plans that much” but it appears that the country is now more “politically receptive” to them, Szijjártó said. He added that there “isn’t really a point in building these pipelines under a capacity of about 2 billion cubic metres”.

Hungary electricity consumption
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