In an interview with Kremlin’s RIA Novosti, published on October 15, Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that Budapest and Russia’s state-owned Gazprom are in discussions on additional purchases for next year.
The move will likely increase Hungary’s dependence on Russian gas, despite the EU’s efforts to wean themselves off Russian supplies.
“We will basically increase the volumes.” Szijjarto stated that we have already signed an agreement for the last quarter this year which covers additional volumes of (gas) at a competitive price.
“We are currently in negotiations for a deal next year.” The minister said that this agreement will have a higher volume due to the capacity of Turkish Stream, a gas pipeline that runs from Russia to Europe via the Black Sea.
Budapest is widely regarded as the most Moscow friendly country in the EU and NATO. It has repeatedly blocked aid to Kyiv, and sanctions against Russia. Szijjarto visited Russia repeatedly throughout the war, something that his European colleagues avoided.
A 15-year agreement signed in 2021 will see Hungary receive approximately 4.5 billion cubic metres of Russian gas annually. Gazprom signed a memorandum on increasing gas supply with Hungary’s MVM Energy company at a forum held in St. Petersburg, on October 10.
Budapest is a major purchaser of Russian oil and one of only a few EU countries that has been granted an exemption for the purchase of pipeline oil via Druzhba.
According to Szijjarto’s comments in June, Russian fossil-fuel supplies cover 70-80% of Hungary’s annual demand.
While the EU has reduced its dependence on Russian gas, it continues to flow into Europe via pipelines and LNG, with the profits from sales funding Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Kyiv said that it would not extend the agreement allowing gas to transit through its territory into the EU past the December 2024 expiration. Europe and Ukraine have been in talks with Azerbaijan regarding alternative gas supplies.
In an interview with Kremlin’s RIA Novosti, published on October 15, Peter Szijjarto, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that Budapest and Russia’s state-owned Gazprom are in discussions on additional gas purchases next year.
The Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces shot down 12 of the 17 drones of the type Shahed launched by Russia over night. Overnight, seven S-300/400 and two Kh 59 missiles were fired at Mykolaiv Oblast.
“With the beginning of the “heating season,” we can expect massive Russian attacks on the energy sector,” Oleksandrlytvynenko said, National Security and Defense Council Sec.
Dmytro Lytvyn, Ukraine’s presidential advisor, reacted after almost a full week of silence following Ukrainska Pravda’s claim that the Ukrainian Government is exerting “systematic” pressure against one of Ukraine’s largest news media sites.
The statement follows an article in the French newspaper Le Monde that claimed that Tuareg fighters of the anti-government CSP were using Ukrainian drones to attack the military and Wagner mercenaries.
“Now the town is more like a desert world: there are no shelters either for civilians or for soldiers,” said Anastasia Bobovnikova. She was a spokesperson from the Operational Tactical Group Luhansk.
“It was (Ukraine) the apple of his eyes; he used talk about it.” Donald Trump said that he had told him, “You’re not going to go in, and he was not going to go in.”
This includes 1,210 casualties that Russian forces have suffered in the last day.
According to Vitalii Kim, the Russian forces attacked the city at around 2:30 am with S-300 anti-aircraft weapons. An industrial complex, a restaurant, shops, residential structures, and cars were all damaged.
According to the Eastern Human Rights Group, Ukrainians suffering from diabetes, bronchial asthma, and other illnesses on Russian-occupied territory will no longer be eligible for free medication unless they obtain Russian passports by 2025.
Lubos Blaha is a senior member of the pro-Russian Smer party (Direction), led by Robert Fico, who visited Moscow on October 12.
Josep Borrell announced on October 14 that he plans to extend the EUMAM for two more years, pending the approval of the EU Council.
On Oct. 14, hundreds of Ukrainian schools, businesses and media outlets including the Kyiv Independent received bomb threats by email. This prompted evacuations. The threats were linked to a recent investigation conducted by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty into Russian security services sabotage of Ukraine.
Andrii Kostin, the prosecutor general of Brazil, said that “information” that Putin might attend the G20 Summit in Brazil obligates the Brazilian authorities to arrest him.
According to Ukraine’s Military Intelligence, Russia’s fall and winter plans include “the actual participation of North Korea in war”, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on October 14.
The treaty stipulates that both countries must provide military support to each other in the event of an attack. The first treaty was signed by Putin in June 2024 with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
According to German intelligence chief Bruno Kahl, Moscow’s ultimate goal is to “push” the U.S. “out of Europe,” to roll back NATO borders to the 1990s and to create a Russian sphere of influence that will cement a new world order.
Russian investigators claimed Laurent Vinatier, in addition to violating the registration of foreign agents, had pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining military information.
According to the regional prosecutor, an FPV drone targeted a civilian vehicle with five occupants, killing two women, aged 72 and 56. It also injured a man, 72, and a woman, 63, and injuring a man, 72, and a woman, 63.
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