Kiev pledges response to Budapest’s natural gas supplies deal with Moscow
Ukraine will come up with a response to Hungary after Budapest signed a new contract on supplies of the Russian natural gas, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said.
"This will not be a political step only as we ponder the cancellation of the commission [Joint Ukrainian-Hungarian Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation], which is our main body in charge of the bilateral relations," Kuleba said in an interview with the Ukrainian television news channel ICTV.
"We will be resorting to further steps in order to protect national interests of Ukraine under the current situation," the Ukrainian top diplomat stated.
Kuleba said that the recently-signed contract on the Russian natural gas supplies to Hungary bypassing the territory of Ukraine was a major blow dealt on his country.
"Hungary dealt a blow to the Ukrainian-Hungarian relations by having excluded the Ukrainian gas pipeline from the system of Russia’s natural gas deliveries," the Ukrainian minister stated. "There can be no regrets or condolences expressed."
Russian energy giant Gazprom signed on Monday a long-term contract on the annual supply of 4.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Hungary for the period of 15 years. According to the deal, the natural gas from Russia will be delivered straight to Hungary, bypassing Ukraine.
