A Hungarian company will supply natural gas to the Moldovan separatist region of Transnistria at the request of the Russian energy minister, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on Friday, Reuters and MTI reported.
Tens of thousands of residents of Transnistria, a territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists along Moldova's border with Ukraine, found themselves in an energy crisis on 1 January after an agreement to transit Russian natural gas through Ukraine expired.
At a press conference published on Facebook The Hungarian foreign minister said that he had been approached by the Russian deputy prime minister responsible for energy about gas supplies and noted that he had also discussed the issue with his Moldovan counterpart.
Szijjártó did not specify which Hungarian company would supply the gas.
At the end of January, the Prime Minister of Moldova Dorin Recean He said the European Union will provide 30 million euros ($31.4 million) for the purchase and transportation of natural gas to Transnistria, and Hungary's MOL plans to sign a contract with Moldovagaz to supply gas to the region. Earlier this month, separatist Transdniestrian authorities said the region had begun receiving gas under a loan from Moscow and that MET Group's Swiss subsidiary MET Gas and Energy Marketing AG had signed a short-term agreement to supply gas to Moldovagaz.
At a press conference with the Secretary General of the Free Party of Austria (FPO) Christian Hafenecker In response to a question on Friday, Péter Szijjártó explained that he had been approached by the Russian deputy minister a few weeks ago with a warning that Transnistria was facing a humanitarian crisis in the middle of winter because of problems with energy supplies.
"We had talks with several Hungarian energy companies and the Moldovan foreign minister, and the result was that one of the companies will supply natural gas to the region," Szijjártó said, according to a statement from his ministry. "We have managed to prevent a very serious humanitarian crisis."
According to MTI, the Hungarian foreign minister also said in response to the critical remarks of his German colleague Annalena Baerbock that he was "one of the most committed pro-war politicians in Europe", and assured that Hungary would continue its policy of not supporting any pro-war proposals.
"We consider extremely dangerous all proposals that could hinder the upcoming agreement between the US and Russia. We also regard as harmful and dangerous all proposals that oppose peace efforts, and we call on all whiny liberals to get out of the way of peace negotiations." Szijjarto said.
"We also strongly reject the further use of European money to finance the war. Europe and the European economy have already been exhausted," He added.
AGERPRES/ gnews.cz - RoZ
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