Orban says Hungary in talks with Ukraine, Russia on gas supplies

Orban said this at a briefing on Saturday, Ukrinform reports, citing Reuters.

"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. So the gas that enters Ukraine would no longer be Russian gas but it would be Hungarian gas," Orban said.

Orban said talks were ongoing and it was not clear whether the Russian partner and Ukraine would accept that, but Hungary would not give up the Ukraine transit route for gas.

Hungary this year imported some 7.5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas via the Turkstream pipeline and additional amounts via Romania. It also has domestic production of around 1-1.5 billion cubic meters of gas, Orban said.

The pipeline, via Ukraine, is one of the last main Russian gas routes to Europe, but it is due to shut at the end of this year as Kyiv does not want to extend a five-year transit agreement which brings gas to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria.

Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko said during the German-Ukrainian Business Forum in Berlin that Ukraine had been carefully preparing for the termination of Russian gas transit for a long time, including by testing the resistance of the gas transportation system.

The contract for Russian gas transit through Ukraine, signed between Naftogaz and Gazprom, expires this year. Ukraine's position on this issue is unwavering: there will be no new contract with the aggressor state.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine is ready to transport gas to European countries if it is not Russian gas.

Photo: EPA