Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban revealed on 21 December that his nation is engaged in negotiations with Russia and Ukraine to keep up fuel shipments by Ukrainian territory, regardless of Hungary’s present reliance on the Turkstream pipeline for Russian fuel imports.
The assertion comes after the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal mentioned Ukraine will cease transiting Russian fuel by its territory from on 1 January 2025. According to the five-years settlement, the Ukrainian transit route has provided fuel to Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Austria.
“We are actually making an attempt the trick … that what if the fuel, by the point it enters the territory of Ukraine, would now not be Russian however can be already within the possession of the consumers,” Orban mentioned throughout a briefing. “So the fuel that enters Ukraine would now not be Russian fuel however it might be Hungarian fuel.”
Orban mentioned that Hungary imported roughly 7.5 billion cubic metres of Russian fuel through Turkstream this 12 months, with extra volumes coming by Romania. He additionally famous home fuel manufacturing of 1-1.5 billion cubic metres.
The scenario has raised issues in neighboring international locations. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico warned of a possible fuel disaster as a result of Ukraine’s continued rejection of extending fuel transit by its territory amid the continued warfare.
Kyiv has beforehand reported that it might rule out extending the transit settlement with Gazprom, Russian state fuel firm, however famous that Ukraine wouldn’t thoughts transporting fuel by its fuel transportation system if it didn’t come from Russia.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has beforehand confirmed that Ukraine shouldn’t be contemplating renewing the settlement with Gazprom on the transit of Russian fuel to Europe. Zelenskyy additionally made it clear that Kyiv wouldn’t comply with pump Russian fuel underneath the guise of Azerbaijani fuel.
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