In the past year, Hungary and Russia might have had more high-level diplomatic meetings than any other country in the world. Having close relations between the two countries would not normally be a problem in itself. What makes the situation extremely unpleasant is that the partner in question is Russia, a country from which Western European countries have been trying to distance themselves both diplomatically and economically since the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war.
However, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Hungarian government are not bothered by the war or the mainstream international opinion. They consider Russia a stable and reliable partner, preferring to forge closer ties with it.
Since the Russian attack on Ukraine on 25 February 2022, Péter Szijjártó has visited Russia 11 times.
This means that on average, he travels to the dictatorial country every 3 months.
I became curious about the possible benefit these visits have brought to Hungary, and what made it worth for the Hungarian government to put up with the EU’s constant accusation of being pro-Russian. After analysing the press releases published during the visits, it seems as if these visits serve two purposes: on the one hand, they provide opportunity for diplomatic smalltalk or a report on the state of affairs, otherwise they give Szijjártó the opportunity to reassure the Russians that Hungary is a friendly partner country which demonstrates the Hungarian Government's commitment. Meaningful decisions and agreements have been reached in a very small number of the meetings that have been reviewed.
Since the outbreak of the war, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs visited Russia three times in 2022, three times in 2023, but this year the meetings have become even more frequent. In the nearly 9.5 months since the beginning of 2024, Péter Szijjártó has visited Putin's country five times.
The war had been going on for five months when Péter Szijjártó made his first trip to Moscow, where he held talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister for Energy Alexander Novak, Deputy Prime Minister for Industry and Trade Denis Manturov and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
During this visit, the Hungarian partner indicated that it would like to purchase 700 million cubic metres of gas in addition to the volume agreed upon in long-term gas contracts. Mr Lavrov readily assured Mr Szijjártó that this request would be considered without delay. In addition, the nuclear power plant "Paks2" was discussed, and the parties confirmed their commitment to the project.
According to published reports, the visit to Russia had two objectives: ensuring Hungary's full energy security and expressing Hungary's desire for peace in Ukraine as soon as possible.
"We ask everyone to do their best to bring the war to an end and to bring peace as soon as possible. We want an immediate ceasefire and peace talks", Szijjártó said already then.
Less than three months later, Szijjártó travelled to Moscow again to participate in a panel discussion organised during the Russian Energy Week. During his trip, he met again with Deputy Prime Ministers Denis Manturov and Alexander Novak, and this time he also held a meeting with Rosatom's First Deputy Director General Kirill Komarov.
During this visit, Szijjártó emphasised that Hungary had not given up hope and was praying for peace in its neighbourhood as soon as possible. He described the horror of people suffering and dying, mentioned the skyrocketing prices and the energy crisis. He then called for peace talks, because EU sanctions are extremely painful for Hungary and Europe, perhaps even more so than for Russia. He also confirmed that Hungary will never agree to nuclear-related sanctions.
On this occasion, the CEO of Gazprom expressed his commitment to the operation of the Turkish Stream and the maintenance of supplies to Hungary.
Speaking about the purpose of the visit, Szijjártó said: "my aim was to make sure that Gazprom was also interested in long-term cooperation with Hungary and to get their commitment to long-term cooperation with us." We now know that the Minister of Foreign Affairs succeeded in securing the Russian partner’s commitment.
Just a few weeks after his October visit, Péter Szijjártó received another invitation from Russia, this time to the 12th International ATOMEXPO. During the visit, he met with Director General of Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, with whom he reviewed the Paks 2 project and noted that it is well on track.
In his speech at the ATOMEXPO, he said that the Hungarian energy mix can only be a national competence, that the reduction of the electricity bills is now very costly for the Hungarian budget, and then he pointed out how the dialogue in the EU is over-ideologised and over-politicised. As an example, he referred to the case of nuclear energy, and then proudly told the audience of Hungary's success:
"the government, together with its partners, has taken effective action against the negative discrimination against nuclear energy and against the well-funded and organised civil society organisations fighting for it," the statement said.
Where else would the fight against NGOs be better appreciated than in Putin's Russia?!
We had to wait almost half a year for Szijjártó’s next trip to Moscow, when since the outbreak of the war he met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak for the third time and Alexey Likhachev, Director General of Rosatom, for the second time.
At the meeting, the contract for the construction and financing of the Paks expansion was amended in order to allow the project to proceed and be finished as soon as possible. Agreements have also been reached to ensure that Russian oil and gas can flow smoothly to Hungary, and to make sure that the country can buy even more gas than the amount established in the contract.
Under another agreement, it was decided that Hungary would issue a delayed payment for gas deliveries above the €150 level.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs was again invited to a panel discussion on the conditions for guaranteeing energy security. Szijjártó used this opportunity to meet the Russian Deputy Prime Minister for the fourth time and the Director General of Rosatom for the third time. During the panel discussion, Szijjártó's main message was that energy security in Europe is not an ideological or political question, but a purely physical one, and he reiterated the importance of the expansion of the Paks nuclear power plant with Russian investment.
On this visit, Péter Szijjártó met not only with the "usual" partners, but also with the ministers of health and sport. However, the published press releases practically repeated the usual phrases about the fact that the energy supply of Hungary cannot be secured without Russian sources, and that Russian companies are very professional, as they fulfil all their obligations on time.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister also expressed his hope that no one would block the oil transport route from Ukraine by financial, political or physical means.
Szijjártó did not neglect his workout run in Moscow Photo: Szijjártó Péter/Facebook
Szijjártó attended the Sochi ATOMEXPO this year as well, but nothing meaningful happened on this visit. He repeated practically the same things he had said to the Russian audience earlier. He complained that the EU's approach to energy supply is ideological, and he expressed his belief that nuclear energy is a good thing.
He also took the opportunity to defend Hungary's sovereignty, saying that his country would not agree to EU sanctions that would harm Hungarian national interests, and that measures targeting the Russian nuclear industry would be exactly like that. In fact, he argued that cutting off nuclear cooperation between Europe and Russia would harm the continent's competitiveness.
The status of the Paks expansion was also reviewed again. It was noted that the project had reached a milestone, as the heart of the plant, the zone melt trap, had been completed, but the way of transporting it to Hungary was not defined yet.
Szijjártó was the only person from the EU to attend Putin's summit event, where he boasted that his attendance could not be forbidden by the West. While three months earlier he had only expressed his opposition about the sanctions targeting the nuclear industry, at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum he took things to the next level and talked about further developing nuclear cooperation with Russia. He did not even not stop there, as he said that in addition to the nuclear field, Hungary would also like to develop economic cooperation in general with the Russians.
At the same time, he said that Hungary will not give up the gas purchase agreement with the Russians, despite the pressure. He then defended Hungarian sovereignty again. He reiterated Hungary's opposition to the EU's energy sanctions and its rejection of any tariffs on energy carriers.
"We regard such measures as attacks on our national sovereignty", Szijjártó stressed, while assuring the Russians that Hungary would prevent any such sanctions and tariffs.
Although Viktor Orbán and his sudden visits to several different foreign "partners" were the focus of attention at the beginning of July, Péter Szijjártó also went to Moscow with the delegation. While the Hungarian Prime Minister held talks with Putin, the Minister of Foreign Affairs reviewed the Paks expansion project with the Russian officials. The meeting must have gone well:
"Based on today's discussions, I can tell you that everything is in place for the two new units of the Paks nuclear power plant to be in operation by the beginning of the next decade at the latest, thus contributing to Hungary's energy security", the minister concluded.
The third month of the summer could not pass without another visit to Russia when Mr Szijjártó held talks with Alexey Miller, CEO of Gazprom, for almost three hours. Afterwards, he reported that the decisions taken in recent years regarding natural gas supplies to Hungary were the right ones. The supply of gas to Hungary is assured and Gazprom is committed to fulfilling its obligations and continuing its cooperation with Hungary.
"We are on the same page here. This is a mutually beneficial agreement, which we do not want to give up under any circumstances," Szijjártó said.
Perhaps of all the meetings listed so far, this one made the most sense, as this time it was not just about the EU sanctions, praising Russian companies and the country itself, and reviewing the Paks expansion. The two state energy companies, MVM and Gazprom, have signed a supplementary gas trade agreement. It was also revealed that thanks to this agreement, "Russian natural gas will continue to arrive in Hungary at a competitive price".