Hungarian FM visits Moscow, eyes further economic cooperation with Russia

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto visited Moscow on March 26 to discuss continued economic cooperation between the two countries, Bloomberg reported.

Szijjarto has made at least 13 visits to Russia in the past three years, far more than any other EU diplomat, and even more than some of Russia’s closest allies.

Hungary is broadly seen as the most Moscow-friendly country within the EU and NATO, repeatedly obstructing aid to Kyiv and sanctions against Russia.

He praised the resilience of Hungary-Russia energy ties and announced plans for Hungary’s largest refinery, MOL, to increase its operations in Russia.

“An agreement was reached on enhancing Hungarian-Russian cooperation, which is in the clear interest of our country, since the country’s energy security depends largely on Moscow,” Szijjarto said.

He later commented on the meetings on Facebook, praising the record amount of natural gas that was imported from Russia in the past year, exceeding 20 million cubic meters. Szijjarto then said that energy attacks are unacceptable, and praised current ceasefire efforts.

“We agreed with Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak to maintain energy cooperation, and we agreed that the attack on the energy infrastructure to Hungary is unacceptable,” he said on Facebook. “Both Russia and the United States sit at the negotiating table with mutual good intentions, so we remain in good hope that the negotiations can lead to a lasting, sustainable ceasefire and peace.”

Ukraine already agreed to a U.S.-proposed full 30-day ceasefire, saying on March 11 that Kyiv was ready to take such a step if Russia also agreed to the terms.

So far, Russia has refused.

Despite the agreement between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin a week ago, Russia has continued its regular campaign of aerial attacks against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

Russia has launched more than 30 mass strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure over the three years of its full-scale invasion, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on Feb. 24.

Ukraine’s list of energy facilities banned from attacks differs from Russian version, Energy Ministry says

Ukrainian oil and gas production facilities — which, according to the Energy Ministry have suffered the most Russian attacks as of late — weren’t on Kremlin’s list, the Energy Ministry told European Pravda.

The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Denisova