Turkish President Recep Tayyip Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban have reached an agreement for Turkey to ensure Russian gas continues to flow to Hungary.
I have agreed with President Putin that Turkey will ensure a transit route for us to continue transporting gas from Russia to Hungary, Mr. Orban affirmed earlier this week.
The Hungarian leader also said that the country has received 7.5 billion cubic meters of gas via TurkStream since the beginning of the year.
Hungary has maintained a significant dependence on Russian energy since the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict, causing the country to be criticized by many allies in the EU and NATO.
According to the agreement signed in 2021, Hungary buys 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas from Russia per year for 15 years. Last year, Budapest also increased its purchases from Gazprom, importing about 7.5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas via the TurkStream pipeline.
Last month, the US granted Hungary a one-year exemption from sanctions on the use of Russian oil and gas, after Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban directly proposed this content during a meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington.
At the end of November, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban also traveled to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said the trip was to guarantee energy supplies to Hungary in the winter and next year.
