Orban: Hungary is negotiating to preserve Russian gas transit through Ukraine

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban revealed on 21 December that his country is engaged in negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to maintain gas shipments through Ukrainian territory, despite Hungary’s current reliance on the Turkstream pipeline for Russian gas imports.

The statement comes after the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Ukraine will stop transiting Russian gas through its territory from on 1 January 2025. According to the five-years agreement, the Ukrainian transit route has supplied gas to Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Austria.

“We are now trying the trick … that what if the gas, by the time it enters the territory of Ukraine, would no longer be Russian but would be already in the ownership of the buyers,” Orban said during a briefing. “So the gas that enters Ukraine would no longer be Russian gas but it would be Hungarian gas.”

Orban said that Hungary imported approximately 7.5 billion cubic metres of Russian gas via Turkstream this year, with additional volumes coming through Romania. He also noted domestic gas production of 1-1.5 billion cubic metres.

The situation has raised concerns in neighboring countries. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico warned of a potential gas crisis due to Ukraine’s continued rejection of extending gas transit through its territory amid the ongoing war.

Kyiv has previously reported that it would rule out extending the transit agreement with Gazprom, Russian state gas company, but noted that Ukraine would not mind transporting gas through its gas transportation system if it did not come from Russia.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has previously confirmed that Ukraine is not considering renewing the agreement with Gazprom on the transit of Russian gas to Europe. Zelenskyy also made it clear that Kyiv would not agree to pump Russian gas under the guise of Azerbaijani gas.

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