Hungary joins the war on Russian gas and are “trying to trick” Kyiv into allowing the supplies transit through Ukraine.
The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban who is pro-Vladimir Putin is suggesting that once they have bought the gas it is no longer Russian, but Hungarian so it must allowed to pass through the pipelines in Ukraine.
Reuters reports that Orban said, “We are now trying the trick … that what if the gas, by the time it enters the territory of Ukraine, would no longer be Russian but would be already in the ownership of the buyers.
So the gas that enters Ukraine would no longer be Russian gas but it would be Hungarian gas.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted that he will not allow Putin to “earn additional billions” from gas exports nor will he permit it to be transited through Ukraine.
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Fico to meet Putin as he threatens Kyiv with ‘conflict’ over a ‘gas crisis thanks to President Zelensky’
Orban is a staunch ally of Putin, and he has tried to block various attempts for the EU to send weaponry and aid to Ukraine and has actively obstructed Western sanctions on Russia.
Budapest signed a contract in 2021 for 4.5 billion cubic meters of Russian gas under a 15-year deal and Russia’s largest energy supplier Gazprom was sanctioned by Washington on 21 November along with various banks in Moscow.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto frequently visits Moscow, he said on 21 November, “Yesterday, we filed our request with the relevant American authorities that calls for Gazprombank being granted an exception from sanctions when it comes to payments for natural gas.”
Szijjarto accused the US sanctions as a marked “attack on our sovereignty” he deemed the sanctions as a “threat to energy security,” according to the Kyiv Independent.
The US Treasury Department said at the time, the most recent sanctions “will make it harder for the Kremlin to evade US sanctions and fund and equip its military.”
On Monday the Slovakian Prime Minister will meet with Putin to hold talks on gas supplies as Kyiv has said they will not allow Russian gas to flow through their country.
Fico who is pro-Putin will meet the Russian dictator on Monday, as he threatened Kyiv with a “serious conflict” if they stop the supply of Russian gas running through Ukraine to Slovakia, on Friday.
The Kyiv Independent reported, Fico verbally attacked the Ukrainian leader at the European Union summit, he said, “We are demonstrably facing a gas crisis thanks to President Zelensky.”
The Slovak leader said that he hopes Bratislava could consider “reciprocal measures” if Ukraine does stop all Russian gas running the country.
