Hungary accused the European Union (EU) of failing to fulfill its recent commitments to ensure energy security.
Hungarian news channel Hirado reported that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto sent a letter to Ms. Kaja Kallas, a senior EU representative on foreign policy and security, stressing that any decision related to Ukraine in the future will depend on whether the EU can ensure energy supplies to Budapest or not.
The letter was sent immediately after the Russian Defense Ministry's report on the three drones shot down near an important gas compressors of the Russian gas pipeline TurkStream on February 28. Russia described the incident as a sabotage of Ukraine.
On January 27, when the EU decided to extend sanctions against Russia, Brussels made four clear commitments to ensure Hungary's energy supply, Hirado said Szijjarto reminded.
The EU has pledged to include Hungary in negotiations on resuming the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine, in the context of Kiev's decision to terminate the transport contract with energy giant Gazprom by the end of 2024. However, Hungary has been excluded from these discussions.
"The European Commission also pledged that Ukraine will not attack the energy infrastructure provided to the EU," Foreign Minister Szijjarto wrote in the letter. "However, Ukraine launched a drone attack on the Russkaya gas compressors of the TurkStream pipeline on the night of February 28."
The Hungarian Foreign Minister also expressed his disbelief that an EU candidate country like Ukraine could seriously threaten the energy security of a current member state, while Brussels appears to side with Kiev rather than Budapest.
Hirado channel quoted Mr. Szijjarto as affirming that Hungary's stance on decisions related to Ukraine in the coming time will largely depend on the issues he raised in the letter.
Hungary's foreign minister warned that if the Russia-China gas pipeline TurkStream is disabled, it would "seriously threaten our energy security" and infringe on Hungary's sovereignty.
While the February 28 attack did not directly damage the energy infrastructure, a similar attack in January sent debris to the facility.
Currently, the TurkStream pipeline is still transporting gas from Russia to Turkish customers and many other European countries, including Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Greece.
