After Hungary signed a 15-year gas deal with Russia’s Gazprom, Ukraine has made its anger clear, with the country eyeing a massive loss in gas transit revenue fees due to the deal.
“The Hungarian-Russian gas agreement is a matter with which Ukraine has nothing to do — it is a matter of Hungarian sovereignty,” Prime Minister Orbán said during a one-day visit to Prague.
Answering a question at a joint press conference with his Czech counterpart Andrej Babiš, Orbán pointed out that “Hungary is a sovereign country – we buy energy and gas from whom we want. It is up to us alone to decide the route by which to supply this energy to Hungary.”
Orbán was referring to the deterioration of Ukrainian-Hungarian relations after Hungary signed a 15-year gas supply deal with Russian energy group Gazprom, with the transport routes circumventing Ukraine.
As Remix News reported earlier, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba said that Hungary dealt a blow to Hungarian-Ukrainian relations by signing an agreement with Gazprom to exclude the Ukrainian gas pipeline from the Russian gas transmission system. According to the head of the ministry, Ukraine will have an “appropriate answer” for this.
“When Hungary chose from the possible routes, there was only one consideration: which solution guarantees the greatest safety. We will choose the transportation which offers the greatest security. No one else should get involved,” Kuleba added.
Orbán emphasized that he wants Hungary to be left out of Ukraine’s dispute with Russia.
“We want the Ukrainians to fight their own problems, but to leave us out of this,” he said.
He added, “We Central Europeans are doomed to success,” and “If they leave us alone, we will prosper.”
“We don’t ask for any extra help, just fair treatment,” he said.
