Péter Szijjártó, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the United States government has extended Hungary's exemption from the effect of sanctions against Russia's Gazprombank until May.
Speaking in Ankara on Friday, Minister Szijjártó noted that the sanctions against Gazprombank, introduced by the outgoing American administration days before their term of office ended, had put Hungary and other countries in the region in a difficult position in terms of gas supply.
He said the step was a "hostile move" by the Biden administration and acknowledged the Trump administration's "common sense" understanding that geography and infrastructure were the deciding factors of energy supply.
At a joint press conference with his Turkish colleague, Hakan Fidan, Minister Szijjártó said Turkiye was a dependable partner on whom Hungary relied for its energy security, pointing to the 7.6 billion cubic metres of gas that were delivered through the TurkStream pipeline last year.
Minister Szijjártó added that Hungary had bought gas directly from Turkiye for the first time, and aimed to buy more as talks between Hungarian energy company MVM and Turkish peer BOTAS continued.
He welcomed a strategic cooperation agreement between Hungary's MOL and Turkiye's TPAO on joint exploration in Hungary. He noted that the partners had already cooperated in Russia and Turkiye and were preparing to work together in other countries, too.