Orbán called for the meeting of the Defense Council in response to U.S. President Joe Biden giving Ukraine permission to use U.S.-supplied longer-range Atacms missiles to strike targets in Russia on Nov. 17.
“In practice, this means that Ukrainians fired long-range missiles into Russian territory on Tuesday, and Russia responded by adopting a stricter nuclear doctrine,” Orbán said. While Donald Trump’s impending presidency had made the prospect of peace, or at least a ceasefire, tangible, he said, a “pro-war” U..S administration was still in power and would remain so for the next two months.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó also echoed the sentiment that “the most dangerous two months in decades are ahead of us” in a post on his Facebook page on Nov. 19.
He criticized Biden, saying that a president “who was voted out of power by his own party, whose capabilities are questioned by many, and who will leave office in two months, may make decisions that will lead to a global catastrophe. Because, let’s be clear, allowing the use of American weapons against deep-seated Russian territories poses a world war risk. And if this happens, we [could] lose everything,” Szijjártó warned.
Hungarian leadership was further irked by another decision made by the United States later that week. On Nov. 21, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Russia’s Gazprombank. By preventing the Russian lender from handling any new energy-related transactions tangent to the U.S. financial system, it could shut down the only way European customers can pay for Russian gas.
“EU payments for energy resources through Gazprombank will likely become impossible at the end of 2024,” Sinara Investment Bank analysts told international news wire Reuters.
Responding to the decision the following day, Szijjártó condemned the inclusion of Gazprombank on the U.S. sanctions list in a post on his Facebook page. Describing the move as a “deliberate threat” to Central and Eastern Europe’s energy security, he declared that Hungary considered any interference with its energy supplies, whether through sanctions or blocked transit deliveries, an attack on its sovereignty.
Szijjártó stressed that Hungary would not submit to such pressure and is working with Turkey, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, and Serbia to address the issue.
Earlier, on Nov. 15, Orbán told Kossuth Rádió that the European Union ought to rethink sanctions against Russia as elevated energy prices were hindering the bloc’s economic competitiveness. He said that U.S. companies pay a fraction of what their European counterparts spend on gas and electricity, adding that this disadvantage could not be overcome by other means.
“Energy prices need to be lowered by all means,” he said. “This means that sanctions need to be reconsidered because, under the current sanctions policy, energy prices will not go lower.”
Meanwhile, the opposition Tisza Party stated that the key to ensuring Hungary’s sovereignty is ending Russian energy dependence in a statement issued on Nov. 14. While it supported the European Parliament’s vote that day to strengthen sanctions against Russia, the party said it was forced to abstain from the prohibition on Russian energy imports.
“Due to the Orbán government’s mistaken policies and omissions, an immediate, complete ban would endanger our country’s energy supply,” the statement explained.
Tisza added that Hungarian companies paid some of the highest prices for gas and electricity in the European Union because the government had neglected to invest in the sector and had accepted the country’s dependence on Russian energy.
While Western European countries have made serious efforts to wean themselves off Russian energy, landlocked Hungary continues to get 80-85% of its gas from Russia, with 80% of its crude oil supplies also coming from its former Soviet overlord, the party added.
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of November 29, 2024.
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