US embassy slams Hungary's growing energy ties with Russia
The US Embassy in Hungary has criticized Viktor Orban's government for increasing the country's energy dependency on Russia. The embassy posted a video on social media that includes footage from a meeting between the Hungarian prime minister and Vladimir Putin. This is not the first time the embassy has expressed such concerns.
5:01 PM EDT, July 19, 2024
"Only one country in the Western world is not decreasing but increasing its dependence on Moscow," states the US Embassy. While it doesn't mention Hungary by name, the text is set against photos from Orban's meeting with Putin, which took place in October in Beijing.
The embassy cites Finland and Bulgaria as examples of countries that have become independent of Russian energy. "Western democracies do not want to be dependent on Putin, a war aggressor who blackmails them with energy," reads the statement. The video also includes footage of a Russian military parade and the presentation of a high state award to Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
While Hungary remains the only EU country that is 100 percent dependent on Putin's Russia for nuclear fuel, the United States is adopting regulations aimed at ending the import of Russian uranium. Hungary's dependence on Putin is a choice, and a dangerous one, the US embassy wrote.
Hungary is heavily reliant on Russian energy resources. They import 160 billion cubic feet of natural gas annually under a 15-year contract with Gazprom, signed in September 2021. Additionally, they imported 5 million tons of oil through the Friendship pipeline last year, and the Russian state-owned company Rosatom is expanding Hungary's only nuclear power plant in Paks, located in the central part of the country.
Another round of criticism from the US
This is not the first time the US Embassy in Budapest has sharply criticized Orban's government's policies, note Hungarian media. After the Hungarian prime minister's visit to Moscow at the beginning of July as part of a so-called "peace mission," Ambassador David Pressman assessed the initiative as "very damaging to Hungary and its relations with allies."
Pressman also criticized Budapest's close relations with Beijing during the May visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Budapest. He has previously spoken out multiple times when the Hungarian parliament delayed approving Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO.
Since the beginning of Joe Biden's presidency, Hungarian-American relations have remained tense. Orban and his associates openly support Republican Party candidate Donald Trump in the upcoming US presidential elections in November.
