Hungarian FM to discuss oil supplies with Putin at Kremlin

"I am here to verify and obtain guarantees that, despite the changed circumstances and the global energy crisis, Russia will continue to supply Hungary with the quantities of crude oil and natural gas necessary for our country's energy needs at the same pricing as before,

– Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said upon arriving in Moscow on Wednesday where he had travelled to meet with the Russian President.

"If we receive this guarantee today, one task remains: to ensure that these supplies actually reach Hungary," he said.

He said this is necessary because without cheap Russian energy sources, it would be impossible to maintain utility cost reductions.

In his brief statement, the Foreign Minister also noted that due to Ukraine's "forced conscription," many ethnic Hungarians living in the country were sent to the front, where many died or disappeared, and some were taken prisoner by Russia.

"Two such Hungarians have recently been identified who have asked for our help, so I hope that after today's talks, there will be more of us traveling home on the plane than we had coming here," he said.

The announcement about the Hungarian Foreign Minister being on his way to Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin was made on Wednesday by the Ria Novosti news agency.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency that the Russian President and the Hungarian Foreign Minister will discuss the issue of oil supplies. He added that no other European countries had approached them with requests to resume or increase energy supplies due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the situation in Iran.

According to Peskov, the talks will also address "Kyiv's deliberate blocking" of deliveries via the Druzhba oil pipeline. The spokesman emphasized that Budapest and Bratislava are "being blackmailed."

Szijjártó flew to Moscow during the night and a photo of him sleeping on the plane was posted on his Facebook page.

Prior to his arrival, Ria Novosti dedicated a whole separate article to reporting in detail on how the Hungarian Foreign Minister slept on the plane while en route to Moscow.

Russia carried out a destructive attack on the Ukrainian section of the Friendship oil pipeline at the end of January. According to the Ukrainian side, the attack had serious technical consequences and the damage will take a long time to repair. The Hungarian government, however, claims that the damage has already been repaired and that oil deliveries are not being resumed due to a political decision by Ukraine. In response, Orbán wrote an open letter to Volodymyr Zelensky, Hungary stopped supplying diesel to Ukraine and plans to block the disbursement of EU relief loans to the country, and has also threatened to restrict electricity exports. On Friday, Viktor Orbán announced the creation of a joint investigation committee into the Friendship pipeline with Slovakia.

On Monday, the Hungarian PM published satellite images which, according to him, prove that there are no technical obstacles to restarting the Friendship oil pipeline, which was damaged in the Russian attack (we discussed these images in more detail in a previous article). Zelensky responded on Tuesday by saying that satellite images cannot show subterranean pipelines, only above-ground storage reservoirs. The Ukrainian Minister of Energy also said that "the reason why the Friendship oil pipeline cannot operate is due to serious internal damage." In an interview with an Italian newspaper, the Ukrainian President said that “the pipeline has been destroyed, a ceasefire is needed for repairs, and this must be made clear to Putin.”

On Tuesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke with Vladimir Putin by phone. According to the Kremlin, they discussed current issues of Russian-Hungarian cooperation and the progress made in implementing the agreements reached by Putin and Orbán following their talks in Moscow on 28 November, 2025. The two leaders also discussed the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iran and the Middle East, including the possible consequences for the global energy market.