MOSCOW
\nHungary wants guarantees from Russia that it will not charge Budapest more for oil and gas, despite global prices jumping due to conflict in the Middle East, Hungary\u2019s foreign minister said Wednesday.
\nHungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was in Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin later Wednesday to press the request.
\nEnergy prices have surged since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, including the benchmark price of Russian crude.
\nHungary is the European Union\u2019s biggest importer of Russian fossil fuels, having maintained purchases and secured exemptions from sanctions despite pressure from Brussels amid the Russian offensive on Ukraine.
\nBudapest was already facing disruption from the closure of the Druzhba pipeline, which transports Russian oil to Hungary and which Ukraine says was damaged in a Russian strike.
\nSzijjarto said he would be seeking assurances that \u201cthe crude oil and natural gas necessary for Hungary\u2019s energy supply will continue to be available to us.
\n\u201cI am also here to obtain guarantees that, despite the changed circumstances and the global energy crisis, Russia will continue to deliver the necessary quantities of oil and gas for Hungary at unchanged prices,\u201d he added.
\nBudapest relies on Russian oil and is currently in a standoff with Kyiv over a halt to supplies via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Ukraine.
\nUkraine says Russia attacked the pipeline in January and that the threat of another strike was holding up repairs.
\nHungary and Slovakia \u2014 which also buys Russian crude \u2014 accuse Kyiv of delaying the repairs in an attempt to put pressure on them and choke them of Russian energy.
\nKremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said buyers of Russian oil were \u201cfacing blackmail\u201d and accused Kyiv of \u201cthe deliberate blocking of deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW Hungary wants guarantees from Russia that it will not charge Budapest more for oil and gas, despite global prices jumping due to conflict in the Middle East, Hungary\u2019s foreign minister said Wednesday. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was in Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin later Wednesday to press the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534920,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-534901","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n