Hungarian foreign minister claims strikes on Russia's energy are worse than attacks on Ukraine

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has said that Budapest views attacks on Russian infrastructure as a threat to its sovereignty, as the country receives energy through this infrastructure.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó lamented in an interview with the Russian propaganda agency RIA Novosti that Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba pipeline and its connecting infrastructure have become "a problem in recent months".

The attacks have led to several days of oil supply interruptions in Hungary, he added, and he equated the destruction of the Russian industrial facilities with attacks on Hungarian facilities. 

"Energy security is a matter of sovereignty, and we consider any attack on our energy infrastructure to be an attack on our sovereignty. We therefore condemn all such attacks," the Hungarian minister said.

Meanwhile, Szijjártó failed to mention Russia's continuing assaults on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

Hungarian electricity producers are a key supplier of electricity to Ukraine, which is forced to rely heavily on imports from the European energy market due to the destruction of its generation capacity by Russian strikes.

These exports are conducted on a commercial basis, with Hungarian producers receiving full payment for their supplies from Western donors.

On 11 March, Szijjártó said that due to the Ukrainian drone attack, oil supplies from Russia to Hungary "had to be suspended" and called on Ukrainians "not to attack the energy infrastructure" of his country.

The same day, the minister said that Russian oil supplies to Hungary had resumed.