Szijjarto: Hungary is not going to give up Russian oil despite Trump's demands
Photo: OLIVIER HOSLET / EPA

Hungary is not going to give up Russian oil despite White House demands to NATO allies, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó says Peter Szijjártó in a commentary to The Guardian .

"For us, energy supply is a purely physical issue. We can dream of buying oil and gas somewhere else [besides Russia]... but we can only buy where the infrastructure is there," Sijjarto said, although Croatia has publicly guaranteed the transit of 12 million tons of oil per year for the needs of Hungary and Slovakia.

"If you look at the physical infrastructure, it is obvious that without Russian supplies, it is impossible to guarantee the country's safe supply of energy resources," the Hungarian minister said .

Answering a question about pressure from the European Union, Siyarto called Western European officials "fanatics" and said that it was "absolutely impossible to have a rational, factual dialogue with them based on common sense.".

Both refineries in Hungary and Slovakia are technically capable of processing non-Russian crude oil, which was proven in 2019 when contaminated Russian oil entered the Druzhba pipeline.

But despite the availability of alternatives, in 2024 Hungary's dependence on Russian raw materials increased to 86% (compared to 61% before the full-scale invasion), and Slovakia remains dependent at almost 100%.

  • on September 16, US Senator Lindsey Graham threatened Hungary and Slovakia with consequences for buying Russian oil.
  • On September 18, US President Donald Trump said that a decline in oil prices would force Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to end Russia's war against Ukraine. The US president said he was ready to put pressure on Russia, but "not when the people I'm fighting for [European partners] are buying oil from Russia.".