Hungarian Prime Minister Orban decided to break with the European Union, ready to pay Russian gas in rubles. Figure / from acebook.com/orbanviktor (file photo)
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said in response to media questions yesterday (6) that Hungary will pay Russia’s natural gas in rubles if Russia requests it, breaking the EU’s call for member states to insist on paying in euros or dollars. Determined to part ways with the EU.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky named Hungarian Prime Minister Orban at the EU meeting a few days ago, criticizing Orban for still hesitating whether to sanction Russia after Russia invaded Ukraine. In his election speech, he criticized Zelensky as an enemy, and immediately after his election summoned the Ukrainian ambassador to demand that the Kyiv authorities stop “insulting” Hungary.
Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin, in retaliation for Western economic sanctions, asked unfriendly countries to switch to Russian rubles to pay for Russian natural gas, warning that if Europe did not pay in rubles, gas supplies would be cut off. The European Union also responded that the bill is due in mid-April, calling on countries to abide by the original contract and use the original euro or dollar to pay.
Orban revealed yesterday that if Putin asked for payment in rubles, Hungary would pay in rubles, and he emphasized that he would not yield to the EU’s expanded sanctions on Russian oil and gas, pointing out that that is Hungary’s bottom line.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto also said that there is absolutely no need to respond to the common demands put forward by the EU. All countries have signed bilateral contracts separately. The EU has no right to intervene in the natural gas supply signed between Hungary and Russia. How can we modify our own contracts? , no one has a say.