Kiev’s attack on TurkStream jeopardizes Europe’s energy security - Hungarian FM

Ukraine’s recent attack on a TurkStream gas compressor station placed power supplies in Central Europe in jeopardy, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

"The bankrupt US democratic administration took a range of sanction measures which openly hamper safe energy supplies to Central Europe. After that, Ukraine made a decision to stop natural gas transit [from Russia] and attempted an attack on the TurkSTream gas pipeline. These steps put energy security in Central Europe in jeopardy. Central Europe’s energy security and the stability of energy prices are under threat," Szijjarto, who accompanies Prime Minister Viktor Orban during his talks with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic in Belgrade, said in a video address telecast by the M1 television channel.

He said that in 2024 his country had received 7.6 billion cubic meters of Russian gas via this pipeline via Turkey, Bulgaria, and Serbia. "This is an absolute record," he said, adding that TurkStream is a guarantee of Hungary’s energy security. "Thanks to it, we can receive as much natural gas as our household and companies need," he noted.

The top Hungarian diplomat said earlier that the attack on the TurkStream pipeline could be seen as infringement on the sovereignty of the European countries using it. The European Commission also expressed concern following reports about Ukraine’s attack on a compressor station in Russia’s Krasnodar Region.

The Russian Defense Ministry reported on January 13 that Kiev had used nine drones to carry out an attack on a compressor station in Russia’s southern Krasnodar Region in order to disrupt gas supplies via the TurkStream pipeline. However, the compression station continues to operate routinely.