"As all of its allies and partners diversify off of Russian energy, Hungary continues to double down on it – a political choice different than that of virtually all of Hungary’s similarly situated neighbors," complained David Pressman, US ambassador to Budapest on social media. He noted that the United States will continue to work with our allies and partners to deprive Russia of its ability to fuel its war machine. As reported Thursday, the United States announced sanctions against Gazprombank and related entities to further curtail Russia’s use of the international financial system to fund its war in Ukraine.
No better offer than Russian's
It was not long before the Hungarian government reacted. Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto rebuked the ambassador, who had been behaving more like a viceroy than an ambassador of a partner country during his time in Budapest.
A state will only give up a reliable and competitively priced sources of energy if a better offer comes along, and for Hungary there is no good alternative to Russian energy carriers for the time being,
Hungary's foreign affairs and trade minister said in Brussels. At a press conference following the EU Council meeting on trade, Peter Szijjarto stressed that Hungary insists on the composition of the energy mix remaining under exclusive national competence.
We reject any attempt to influence where, how and from whom we buy our energy,
he stated. This is also a question of national security and sovereignty. "Security of energy supply is part of national security and we do not accept any interference in the discussion of energy security issues," he added, expressing satisfaction with the standing energy cooperation with Russia .
I can speak about my own experience, not about that of others. And I expect others to not talk about mine. And our experience has been that Russia is a reliable supplier, we have always received the contracted quantity, at the price and time we agreed on,
he said.
And we have not received a better offer to date. No other offers for a reliable or cheap source,
he added.
Russian energy is flowing into Western countries
The hypocrisy exhibited by the US ambassador and the outgoing Biden administration knows no bounds as Western countries continue to buy large amounts of Russian energy. Until November 18 of this year, France had bought more LNG from Moscow than in any other full year since imports began in 2018, the economics news portal Vilaggazdasag reports. It is not clear how much of the Russian LNG landing in France is used there and how much is sent on to other parts of Europe after being channeled into the pipeline network. A spokesman for the French energy ministry confirmed that some of the LNG that is fed into the pipelines via the coastal terminals is sent on to Eastern European countries.
For the time being, Gazprom is still sending gas to Europe via Ukraine at the usual levels, even after it stopped direct deliveries to Austria.
Russian LNG imports arriving at the Port of Rotterdam have also increased substantially, and Spain and Belgium are still receiving LNG from Russia. Several Central European countries, including Slovakia and the Czech Republic, receive gas from Russia by pipeline, although the supply contract expires at the end of the year.
Cover photo: David Pressman, the outgoing US ambassador to Budapest (Photo: AFP)
