Looking to reset after a difficult year in Hungarian-Ukrainian relations, Ukraine seeks to strengthen relations with its neighbour to the south after Hungary signed a long-term gas deal with Russia’s Gazprom.
As cold weather sets in across Europe over the holiday season, it’s the energy front in Russia’s high stakes, hybrid war with Ukraine that is taking center stage as European states scramble to secure dependable energy resources.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke on Dec. 28 with Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjártó days after Ukraine and Hungary signed an agreement for the transportation of natural gas to Ukraine and mere months after Hungary infuriated Ukraine by signing a long-term gas transportation deal with Russia’s Gazprom.
“My Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and I spoke on the phone and reaffirmed our mutual intention to improve bilateral relations - a challenge that will be difficult“
Szijjártó said afterwards, “but we hope 2022 will be better for Hungarian-Ukrainian relations than this year.”
Energy Diplomacy
Last week, Ukraine signed gas transport deals with both Hungary and Slovakia that will see the country increase its guaranteed natural gas imports by one-third.
"The creation of guaranteed capacity for imports from Hungary is aimed at diversifying supply sources and, as a result, strengthening energy security”, said the Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (OGTSU) on its website.
“Thus, Ukraine increases [its] guaranteed capacity by almost 30% and opens access to new natural gas sources, including the Krk LNG terminal [in Croatia]."
The deals will see up to 27 million cubic metres flow daily from Slovakia and up to 8 million per day from Hungary, guaranteeing 35 million cubic meters per day.
“For the first time since 2014, Ukraine is increasing the guaranteed capacity for gas imports from Europe,“
said OGTSU Director General Serhiy Makogon.
"This will give market companies a commercial opportunity to supply a total of 700 million cubic meters of gas between January and March”, Szijjártó added.
Break in Relations
Hungary is a key battleground on the energy front of Russia’s hybrid war with Ukraine.
Traditionally, Russia transports its natural gas through Ukraine to supply Europe, generating billions of dollars in revenue for Ukraine.
Looking to deprive Ukraine of that revenue stream, Russia has actively worked toward alternative gas supply routes, namely the TurkStream line through Turkey and the Nord Stream 2 line through the Baltic Sea.
Showing the importance of energy transportation, Ukraine and Russia signed a five-year gas transportation deal in 2019 – the first agreement between the nations since Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014.
Set to expire in 2024, Ukraine has scrambled to find alternative energy resources while dissuading allies from cooperating with Russia’s Gazprom. Which is why the 15-year deal between Hungary and Gazprom so incensed the Ukrainian government.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a blistering statement in response.
“We consider this to be a purely political, economically unjustified decision taken in favor of the Kremlin and to the detriment of Ukraine's national interests and Ukrainian-Hungarian relations”, the statement reads.
“[It] does not comply with the principles of the Treaty of Good Neighborliness and Cooperation between Ukraine and Hungary of December 6, 1991”.
Courting Hungary
Hungary’s gas deal with Gazprom wasn’t the only issue between the neighboring nations in a thorny 2021.
A Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty investigation earlier this year revealed that Hungary had poured over 115 million euro into Ukraine’s Transcarpathian region to influence the Hungarian diaspora in the region.
“They constantly try to mobilize voter support by bringing in Hungarians, whom they do not consider to be diaspora Hungarians by the way”, Pavlo Klimkin, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, told RFE/RL. “Thus, most of them have Hungarian passports and vote for the Fidesz party.”
Still, Hungary is an important ally, and one Ukraine must continue to court.
Last week, Ukraine’s Minister of Defence Oleksii Reznikov met with his Hungarian counterpart Tibor Benkő to discuss regional security and military cooperation.
Benkő assured Reznikov that Hungary was in Ukraine’s corner.
“Hungary considers all forms of aggression unacceptable and urges dialogue and political solutions”, he wrote online afterwards.
“Hungary also agrees with the European Union and NATO’s position on the annexation of Crimea and condemns the military intervention in eastern Ukraine.”
