Budapest (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Foreign Minister of Hungary, Peter Szijjarto views Ukraine’s attack on the infrastructure of the TurkStream gas pipeline as an attack on its sovereignty.
In a post on Facebook, he said
My Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov told me by phone that overnight a Ukrainian drone had attacked the Russkaya station, an important compressor station of the TurkStream gas pipeline. Three drones were neutralized by Russian air defences. The TurkStream pipeline safeguards the reliability of natural gas supplies to Hungary, so a potential inoperability of the pipeline may seriously undermine our energy security.
The Hungarian minister further said,
Energy security is a matter of sovereignty, so such attacks should be viewed as an attack on sovereignty. The European Commission has recently issued a guarantee that Ukraine would not target the infrastructure of the gas pipeline leading to the European Union, so we urge the European Commission to immediately clarify whether it honours its guarantees.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Lavrov told his Hungarian counterpart about Ukraine’s tried attack on the TurkStream infrastructure. The discussion took place at the endeavour of the Hungarian side.
How crucial is the Turkstream pipeline for Hungary?
Earlier in February, Hungary obtained guarantees for its energy security from the European Commission. They surround talks with Ukraine on the resumption of Russian gas transit to Central Europe, the continuance of the transit of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline, and non-aggression by the Ukrainian armed forces against the TurkStream pipeline, which provides fuel from Russia to Hungary.
Hungary has secured observation with these requirements to the matter of the attachment of European Union sanctions against Russia, as well as the launch of discussions with Ukraine on its acquisition to the association.
The country also continues to accept most gas under long-term contracts with Gazprom via the TurkStream pipeline and its components via Bulgaria and Serbia. According to Hungary’s calculations, this accounted for 5.6 billion cubic meters in 2023, while in 2024, it achieved a high of 7.6 billion cubic meters.
