Attack on Friendship pipeline an attack on Hungarian sovereignty, Szijjártó says in Moscow

When it comes to energy supply, cooperation with Russia is of strategic importance for Hungary – Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó said in an interview with the Russian newspaper Izvestia on Wednesday morning.

He attributed the importance of the cooperation to a "rational approach." According to Szijjártó, Russian energy is indispensable for Hungary, and since it is his job to ensure the country's energy security, he does not like "ideological or political" evaluation.

Speaking to the Russian newspaper, the minister stressed the significance of the number of available pipelines, citing Serbia as a negative example, where reliance on a single oil pipeline "is causing serious problems."

Szijjártó told the Russian government's newspaper that due to Hungary's infrastructure deficiencies, without the Druzhba oil pipeline, the country would be "physically" unable to supply itself with fuel, and therefore the Hungarian government considers any damage to the pipeline a threat to the country's sovereignty.

Currently, the vast majority of Hungary's oil supply, approximately 10 million tons per year, is delivered via the Druzhba oil pipeline, whose terminals have been attacked several times since the war in Ukraine began.

In the past, Szijjártó has repeatedly claimed that the other major pipeline, Adria, which runs from Croatia, is unable to supply Hungary and Slovakia with the amount of oil the two countries need, and that the Croats are simply looking to profit from the war in Ukraine. Janaf, which has been pumping two million tons of crude oil through the pipeline annually, has categorically (and angrily) refuted this statement.

Szijjártó also told Izvestia, which is part of the Russian government-controlled media, that Hungary also expects help from the European Union in establishing energy security for the country, but is currently not receiving "significant support" from the community.

Since Donald Trump started imposing punitive tariffs on countries that continue to buy Russian oil, the subject of moving away from Russian energy sources has become more pressing for Hungary as well. Previously, several experts told Telex that moving away from Russian natural gas and crude oil would not be nearly as complicated and costly as the government claims.