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No Alternative Yet to Russian Gas

Mariann Őry 2022.08.03.

According to Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, Hungary can only buy large quantities of gas from Russia in the absence of an alternative.

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó was a guest on Maria Bartiromo’s show Mornings with Maria on Fox Business News in New York on Tuesday.

Speaking about his trip to Moscow in July, Szijjártó pointed out that Hungary can only buy large quantities of natural gas from Russian sources because of the existing infrastructure and geography in Central Europe.

Maria Bartiromo asked whether the government had a Plan B in view of Russia’s blackmailing of Europe over energy supplies. According to Szijjártó, “this is not a question of plans, dreams or illusions, but of physics and mathematics.” “If there are no alternative sources in the region and no other infrastructure options, then you are clearly in a unilaterally defenseless position,” he explained.

The Foreign Minister noted that the capacity of LNG terminals around Hungary is insufficient to replace Russian gas, and that extraction of gas from Romanian gas fields has not started.

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The program also discussed Hungary’s interest in peace. As a neighboring country of Ukraine, it is facing a flood of refugees and economic and energy supply challenges. Szijjártó said that Hungary has already received 870,000 refugees from Ukraine, while it has stopped more than 130,000 illegal immigrants at its southern border, a higher number than in the whole of the previous year.

Featured photo via Facebook/Péter Szijjártó


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