Putin hosts Hungary's foreign minister for energy supply talks as war in Mideast causes disruptions

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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hosted Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó for talks in Moscow, with oil and gas supplies high on the agenda, as Hungary has maintained its reliance on Russian fossil fuels, despite the war in Ukraine.

Szijjártó said earlier on Wednesday that he was in Moscow seeking guarantees from Russian authorities that Hungary would continue to have access to Russian oil and gas amid disruptions caused by the war in the Middle East and interruptions to Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline.

The Hungarian government has recently accused Kyiv of deliberately holding back Russian oil deliveries through the pipeline, which crosses Ukraine’s territory. Ukrainian officials have denied the allegations, saying the pipeline, which feeds refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, was hit in a Russian drone attack.

Putin assured Szijjártó at the meeting that the Russian authorities “have always fulfilled all our obligations, and, of course, we intend and are ready to do so."

“I understand that this is of concern to you, particularly oil supplies. We see what’s happening in the global and European gas markets. We’ll be happy to discuss all these issues," Putin said.

“Not everything is in our power," he said.

Szijjártó, in turn, said that the Russian president was “well aware that Ukraine has been blocking oil shipments to Hungary on the Druzhba oil pipeline for weeks, solely for political reasons and based on a political decision.”

He said that he’d come to Moscow to ensure Hungary’s continued access to Russian fossil fuels “at an unchanged price,” despite the disruption to pipeline deliveries and soaring energy prices in the wake of the war in the Middle East.

Putin also announced that Russia was releasing two ethnic Hungarian prisoners of war who fought in the Ukrainian armed forces. Putin said that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán asked him to consider releasing them in a phone call on Tuesday, and that Szijjártó will be able to bring them home “right on the plane that brought you here and that you will return to Budapest on.”

Szijjártó thanked him in Russian. The minister has previously accused Ukraine of forcibly conscripting members of a roughly 75,000-strong community of ethnic Hungarians residing in the western Ukrainian region of Zakarpattia. Many in that minority group hold dual Hungarian and Ukrainian citizenship, and so do the two released POWs, according to Putin.

The agreement to release the two ethnic Hungarian prisoners of war comes as Orbán escalates an aggressive anti-Ukraine campaign before tough elections scheduled for next month.

Trailing in most polls to a center-right challenger who has promised to restore Hungary’s Western alliances and end its dependence on Russian energy, Orbán has ramped up unfounded accusations that Kyiv and the European Union seek to bankrupt Hungary by forcing it to financially assist Ukraine.

He has also sought to convince voters that if his party loses the election, his opponent will send Hungarian youth to die on the front lines of the war.

Last week, Hungary blocked a new package of EU sanctions on Russia in response to interruptions in Russian oil supplies that pass through Ukraine, and vowed to block a major, 90-billion euro ($106 billion) EU loan destined for Kyiv until oil flows resume.

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Justin Spike contributed to this report from Budapest, Hungary.