“In order to secure Hungary’s long-term energy supply, we have to look for additional opportunities, and among these options gas deliveries from Azerbaijan to Central Europe via the southern gas corridor features prominently,” Szijjártó said.

“However this is only one of the options,” Szijjártó told state news agency MTI. Hungary was on the route of the planned pipeline, together with Bulgaria, Serbia and Slovenia, Italy and Austria. Defying criticism from Brussels, the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán — seen as having close ties to Putin — had pledged that Hungary would start building its section next year.