The proposed European price ceiling for Russian natural gas runs counter to European and Hungarian interests, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Friday, ahead of an emergency meeting of European Union energy ministers. Szijjarto, who met his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow in July seeking 700 million cubic meters of natural gas in addition to an existing long-term supply deal, said the proposed price cap would cause an immediate supply cut to Europe. Gazprom began increasing supplies to Hungary last month, adding to previously agreed deliveries via the Turkstream pipeline. Russia supplies Hungary with most of its oil and natural gas needs. EU energy ministers are due to discuss on Friday ways to reduce energy prices, which have risen as Russia has halted most natural gas flows to Europe in response to European sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “The plan to impose a price cap exclusively on Russian natural gas coming through pipelines is completely against European and Hungarian interests,” Szijjarto said in a Facebook video. “If price restrictions were imposed solely on Russian gas, that would obviously lead to an immediate cutoff of Russian gas supplies. We don’t need a Nobel Prize to recognize that,” he said.
