Hungarian foreign minister vows to protect ‘national interests’ after meeting Lavrov

Peter Szijjarto discussed oil and Ukraine with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto has reaffirmed that Budapest will prioritize its “national interests” in energy and foreign policy after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting on Wednesday, Szijjarto said he and Lavrov had “been working together for more than 11 years now” and that it was “business as usual” to meet at major international gatherings.

“I underlined that Hungary is interested in peace to come as soon as possible because we have been living in the neighborhood of the war for three and a half years now. We have been faced with the consequences of this war for too long,” Szijjarto said.

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The minister accused the European Commission of failing to defend member states’ interests after recent Ukrainian strikes on the Druzhba oil pipeline, which supplies Hungary and Slovakia.

“Instead of protecting our energy security they gave us lectures. And you know this is a scandal, I think,” he said. “When the Ukrainians attacked the Druzhba pipeline, they knew very obviously that this would endanger the energy security of Hungary. Attacking Druzhba causes much less harm to Russia than to Hungary and Slovakia.”

Szijjarto argued that EU institutions had long sought to replace Hungary’s government.

“We are very uncomfortable for Brussels because we are a non-mainstream government. We are a patriotic government. We represent our own national interest. We are not ready to be 100% aligned with press orders if it is against our national interest,” he said. “Our national interest is that we can guarantee the safe supply of energy to Hungary.”

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He stressed that pressure from Brussels to cut ties with Moscow would not sway Budapest, reiterating that Hungary considers Russia a reliable supplier of oil and gas and intends to continue energy cooperation.

Szijjarto also welcomed continued dialogue between Moscow and Washington, saying Lavrov had told him of a meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “I think this is the best possible news we could get today because as long as the high-level contacts are being maintained between Russia and the United States, we can still have the hope that we can avoid the worst-case scenario and we can avoid the outbreak of a further war,” he said.