Ukraine says Hungary is contributing to Russian war crimes with energy deals

An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Moscow and Russia’s energy exports are cheap, but that this contributes to Russia’s war crimes, so Ukrainian people are dying because of it.

Ukraine perseveres

Oleg Ustenko, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked to Politico. According to Ustenko “If you’ve seen the video where Russians cut the head off a Ukrainian soldier — the Hungarians are paying for the knife.”

The paper points out that Hungary and Russia have numerous energy relations. This led Hungary to prolong the war in Ukraine.

The situation is further exacerbated by a recent video showing the execution of a Ukrainian soldier.

“You have to be completely blind not to see what kinds of crimes you are sponsoring. Buying more gas from the Russians means you are giving them more capacity to escalate the war,” said Ustenko on the incident.

Read also:

• Shocking move? The US could announce sanctions against Hungary! – UPDATE
• US sanctions are here: Hungarian head of the Russian spy bank is also on the list

Hungary perseveres

Hungary’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade has not responded to the allegations. Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó signed a number of energy agreements in Moscow. These will allow Russian gas imports to Hungary to increase.

Orbán is a populist prime minister with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Politico. He has also consistently opposed the imposition of sanctions against Russia.

Budapest receives 4.5 billion cubic metres of gas a year, and the new amendment will allow even more to reach the Hungarian capital.

The security of Hungary’s energy supply requires uninterrupted transportation of gas, oil and nuclear fuel,” Szijjártó said earlier at a press conference. He added “To meet these three conditions, Hungarian-Russian energy cooperation must be uninterrupted. It has nothing to do with political preferences.”

Read also:

• Hungary an “annoying sideshow” in NATO

The two countries cooperate closely not only on gas but also on nuclear energy. Szijjártó said those who oppose the Paks nuclear power plant project are against Hungary. The Hungarian foreign minister also sent a message to Brussels to approve the agreement, otherwise, the country’s long-term energy supply would be at risk.

However, Ustenko wants the EU to step in and put pressure on Hungary. Germany, Poland and Finland have cut their Russian gas supplies to zero and several other countries have cut back significantly as well while Hungary receives nearly 80 percent of its gas from Russia.

Source: MTI