Regarding the payment through Gazprombank, the Hungarian foreign minister said that "it is not true that others have rejected this, they just don't talk about it so honestly". You can talk politically about the need for other sources and the lack of need for Russian natural gas, and how important this is, but ideologically and philosophically, no one has yet been able to buy natural gas, only physically, stated Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó on Friday in Lendvá.
The minister answered a journalist's question that Hungary pays for Russian natural gas in rubles. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade emphasized: the international mainstream media uses a very rude and outrageous slip in relation to the whole matter. Some of the Western European companies that import natural gas into the territory of the European Union also act in accordance with the payment for natural gas from Russia, as prescribed by the supplier and the Russian state, he said.
Péter Szijjártó explained: in order to be able to buy natural gas from Russia in the future, the companies importing natural gas - not the countries - must open two accounts at Gazprombank, which is not under a sanctions ban. A euro or dollar account and a ruble account.
"It's not true that others rejected it, they just don't talk about it so frankly," he underlined, adding that the international liberal press supports them in this.
He explained: the Hungarian company transfers the euro to Gazprombank and gives an order to convert it into rubles. This is transferred to the bank account from which Gazprom is paid, with which the Hungarian company signed the contract for the delivery.
"And this is how the others do it as well," he pointed out, and then asked the representatives of the press not to spread the false approach that there is some kind of common European position from which the Hungarians are withdrawing.
"It is natural for us to pay for natural gas so that it arrives," said the minister, adding that the most important thing for the government is to guarantee the security of Hungary's energy supply.
He indicated: at the moment, due to physical, geographical and infrastructural reasons, they - and he believed that other European countries too - are forced to import natural gas from Russia.
"If we could import it from somewhere else, we would," he said, stressing that this would require someone in the area to discover new natural gas fields and build new transportation routes. But when it comes to this, the enthusiasm of Western European companies and American companies suddenly drops if they had to invest in these projects, he explained.
"Natural gas can only be purchased physically. I have not yet seen that it was possible to heat an apartment with political resolutions or political statements," added Péter Szijártó in conclusion.
Source: Mandarin
