Hungary wants to continue importing Russian gas and oil

While the European Commission presented a proposal in June 2025 to gradually end imports of Russian gas and oil into the European Union, Hungary continues to take the opposite approach. Budapest has confirmed that it plans to keep using Russian supplies of natural gas and oil, as well as continuing cooperation in nuclear energy. This stance has once again sparked tensions among EU member states as they seek a unified energy strategy amid the ongoing war in Ukraine and efforts to reduce dependence on Russian commodities.

The European Commission is proposing a two-phase ban: first, new contracts for Russian gas would be prohibited from 1 January 2026, and existing long-term contracts would also have to end by the end of 2027. Exceptions are proposed only for a few landlocked countries, including Hungary and Slovakia, which have no access to LNG terminals and remain heavily dependent on the TurkStream pipeline. Hungary, however, is strongly criticizing the proposal, on both economic and political grounds.

While the EU cites security and geopolitical objectives, the Hungarian government argues that cutting off Russian energy would lead to a dramatic increase in prices for households and industry. In addition to gas, Budapest is actively supporting other projects involving Russia, above all the expansion of the Paks II nuclear power plant, in which Russia’s Rosatom is involved. Hungary is thus effectively ignoring Brussels’ efforts to decouple its energy sector from Moscow and is continuing bilateral cooperation with Russia.

“Russia is ready, despite all the difficulties, to continue supplying Hungary with cheap natural gas and oil, while Ursula von der Leyen’s and Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s plans would double or triple energy costs,” Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Péter Szijjártó said in St Petersburg on Thursday.

Hungary’s stance is therefore not only a practical challenge to implementing a common EU policy, but also a symbolic dispute over the direction of European energy sovereignty. While most EU states agree on ending dependence on Russian energy commodities and reducing cooperation to a minimum, Hungary continues to openly support ongoing cooperation.