Hungary is ready to be a transit country for Russian gas and supports the construction of a new pipeline to Turkey.
"Hungary would be most content with a pipeline bringing gas from Turkey through Greece, Macedonia and Serbia and further on to Western Europe from Hungary. I trust the agreements concluded with the Russian president," the Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban said at a joint press conference with the Russian President.
For its part, Gazprom is ready to rephase the unused quantity of gas for the next period and Hungary will not have to pay for unused gas. According to Orban, the problem has been solved and only technical questions remain.
"Hungary does not use the entire amount of contracted gas. A big stumbling block, a clause in the expiring contract which means Hungary has to pay for gas it contracted to buy but did not use, has been resolved. Now Hungary can use the remaining gas under the contract in the coming years, and pay at the time when it draws on the gas," he said.
In addition, Putin once again confirmed the firmness of Russia's decision to phase out the "South Stream" project. "We have not abandoned the South Stream project, we were not allowed to implement it. There are some details which have been known for a long time now, but I guess I should say it again," the Russian president said, adding that "there will be no return to the South Stream project in the earlier proposed form."
The head of the Center for Strategic Development of the CIS Countries under the RAS Institute of Europe told Vestnik Kavkaza that the official visit of the President of Russia to Hungary shows that our countries are important strategic partners. "I would not say that Hungary is a purely pro-Russian position, but nevertheless, there is movement toward Russia. So I believe that Vladimir Putin's visit to Hungary is a very positive step. Moscow is building partnerships with Budapest in the gas sector and the energy sector. I remind you that more than 70% of the electricity goes to Hungary from Russia. So I think that this visit allows to clearly define the position of our country in the European vector. And we consider Hungary as a major positive force for the further development of EU relations," he stressed. In addition, the expert noted that gaining allies in Europe is fundamentally important in the current environment. "We still have to consider that European countries are set aggressively in relation to Russia, especially the leading Western European countries, such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom. So, of course, the search for allies for us right now is extremely important. Russia should rely on those countries that support us - in particular, Serbia, Greece, Italy and Spain. It seems to me that we have a normal dialogue with Hungary, we build relationships. And we'll see what will happen next," the analyst said. Speaking about the complex relations of Hungary and the EU, in particular with the European Commission, he drew attention to the fact that "there will be some difficulties in Hungary only when it will begin to pull the gas pipeline from Turkey." "Of course, it will ask Russia to build these pipelines, because we have the means to ensure these works. There is no great difficulty yet, but they understand that Hungary is moving quite clearly on the path of cooperation with Russia," the analyst concluded.
The head of the Center for Strategic Development of the CIS Countries under the RAS Institute of Europe told Vestnik Kavkaza that the official visit of the President of Russia to Hungary shows that our countries are important strategic partners.
"I would not say that Hungary is a purely pro-Russian position, but nevertheless, there is movement toward Russia. So I believe that Vladimir Putin's visit to Hungary is a very positive step. Moscow is building partnerships with Budapest in the gas sector and the energy sector. I remind you that more than 70% of the electricity goes to Hungary from Russia. So I think that this visit allows to clearly define the position of our country in the European vector. And we consider Hungary as a major positive force for the further development of EU relations," he stressed.
In addition, the expert noted that gaining allies in Europe is fundamentally important in the current environment. "We still have to consider that European countries are set aggressively in relation to Russia, especially the leading Western European countries, such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom. So, of course, the search for allies for us right now is extremely important. Russia should rely on those countries that support us - in particular, Serbia, Greece, Italy and Spain. It seems to me that we have a normal dialogue with Hungary, we build relationships. And we'll see what will happen next," the analyst said.
Speaking about the complex relations of Hungary and the EU, in particular with the European Commission, he drew attention to the fact that "there will be some difficulties in Hungary only when it will begin to pull the gas pipeline from Turkey." "Of course, it will ask Russia to build these pipelines, because we have the means to ensure these works. There is no great difficulty yet, but they understand that Hungary is moving quite clearly on the path of cooperation with Russia," the analyst concluded.
Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Foreign Relations, the senator from the Ryazan region Igor Morozov, drew attention to the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin continues his strong political and economic voyage around the world.
"The geography of his movements suggests advancing Russian interests in Asia and Eastern Europe. So all the agreements that have been reached in negotiations with Viktor Orban, and the signed agreement, I think, will allow us to change the picture in interstate relations in the Eastern direction, to get new allies and to build a system of foreign trade contracts on a completely different basis," he said.
According to the expert, "the latest developments suggest that the isolation, which Merkel has tried to create around the United States and Russia, simply collapsed and crashed." "This is evidenced by the Minsk agreement, and now by the meeting and completion of the agreements with Hungary. I think that a number of countries in Central and Southern Europe will be the next ones, which will allow us to move forward economically to the European continent, reiterating that Russia is in Europe, we are part of a large European world, and we occupy a worthy place not only in history but also in the European economy," the senator said.
He also expressed the view that the European Commission could not have done anything bad to Hungary, because there cannot be more damage done to the Hungarian economy than after joining the EU," Morozov summed up.
The president of the Union of Oil and Gas Producers of Russia, member of the Council for Information and Cooperation of the Fuel and Energy Complex, Gennady Schmal, said that "the visit by the Russian head of state is needed in order to garner some support among European countries." "The RF is necessary to seek the path of liberation from sanctions. In this respect, a trip to Hungary is just the diplomatic move that will undermine the wall of mistrust which has appeared in mutual understanding between Russia and the EU," the expert said.
"So Hungary is ready to think about the creation of a sufficiently reliable system of gas supply to Europe, including the use of opportunities for creation of underground gas storage facilities in the country. This is a very interesting proposal which can really affect the situation on the European gas market," Schmal said.
According to him, Hungary has always supported the implementation of the South Stream. He also noted that the position of Budapest will get it in some trouble with the European Commission.
