Hungary has requested an increase in natural gas imports from Russia under a bilateral long-term contract, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on February 1 after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Orban said he requested an expansion of Hungary's 15-year gas contract with Russian energy company Gazprom to ensure larger-volume deliveries amid rising energy prices in Europe.
Orban spoke at a joint news conference with Putin, who signaled that he was ready increase gas supplies to Hungary from 4.5 billion to 5.5 billion cubic meters per year. Details were not provided, but Orban added that Hungary would be insulated from future energy price spikes in Europe under its long-term contract with Russia.
Hungary, a member of the European Union and NATO, signed the 15-year natural gas supply deal with Gazprom in September, under which the Russian state-run gas giant pledged to ship 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas to Hungary annually through lines that bypass Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials have slammed the gas deal between Budapest and Russia, with the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv calling the move “a purely political, economically unreasonable decision taken in favor of the Kremlin while to the detriment of Ukraine’s national interests and Ukraine-Hungarian ties.”
Orban, who maintains friendly ties with Putin, told Hungarian public radio on January 28 that he will seek to strengthen cooperation with Russia in the food industry, tourism, and space research.
During five hours of talks, the two leaders also discussed the potential for Hungary to manufacture Russia's COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V. Hungary is also willing to buy the single-shot Sputnik Light version, Orban said.
Orban's trip came as tensions between the West and Moscow have intensified over Russia's movement of more than an estimated 100,000 troops to areas near the border with Ukraine. Western intelligence says the shifting of soldiers is possibly a prelude to a new invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Moscow has denied it is planning an incursion into Ukraine, but also has demanded legally binding guarantees from the United States and NATO that Ukraine will never join the bloc, that it will halt the deployment of weapons systems near Russian borders, and that its forces will be rolled back from Eastern Europe.
Washington and NATO have rejected the demands.
Orban said differences between Russia and NATO on Ukraine are significant but "can be bridged" and added that an agreement which would both guarantee Russia's security and be acceptable to NATO member states could be reached.
Orban also argued that sanctions against Russia were counterproductive.