US embassy condemns Hungary's increasing energy ties with Russia

The United States Embassy in Hungary has criticised Viktor Orbán's government for increasing the country's energy dependence on Russia. It shared a video on social media with footage from the Hungarian Prime Minister's meeting with Vladimir Putin.

The American embassy informed that there is only one country in the Western world not decreasing but increasing its dependence on Moscow. Although it did not name Hungary explicitly, it presented its text against the backdrop of images from Orbán's meeting with Putin, which took place in October in Beijing.

The embassy provided examples of Finland and Bulgaria as countries striving to become independent of Russian energy. In its statement, it said: "Western democracies do not want to be dependent on Putin, a war aggressor, who blackmails them with energy."

The video also showed footage from a Russian military parade and a high state decoration awarded to Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó.

The US Embassy noted that Hungary is the only country in the European Union that is 100 percent dependent on Russia for nuclear fuel. On the other hand, the United States is passing legislation aimed at ending the import of Russian uranium. "Hungary's dependence on Putin is a choice, and a dangerous one" wrote the American embassy.

Hungary is heavily reliant on Russian energy resources. Each year, it imports 4.4 billion cubic meters of natural gas under a 15-year contract with Gazprom signed in September 2021. Last year, it imported 5 million metric tonnes of oil via the Friendship pipeline. The Russian state corporation Rosatom is expanding Hungary's only nuclear power plant in Paks, located in the central part of the country.

Hungarian media note that this is not the first time that the American embassy in Budapest has expressed its dissatisfaction and criticised Orbán’s government policies. After the Hungarian Prime Minister visited Moscow at the beginning of July as part of a self-proclaimed "peace mission," Ambassador David Pressman assessed that Orbán's initiative "harms Hungary and its relations with its allies immensely."

Ambassador Pressman criticised Budapest’s close relations with Beijing during Chinese leader Xi Jinping's visit to Budapest in May. He repeatedly spoke out when the Hungarian parliament delayed approving Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO.

Pressman, who is homosexual, actively supports the LGBTQ+ community in Hungary by participating, among other things, in the annual Budapest Pride parade.

Meanwhile, Orbán's government defends a conservative definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. According to a law passed in 2021 in Hungary, the display of "homosexual content" to minors in the media is prohibited. It is also banned in school educational programs.

Relations between Hungary and the United States have been tense since Joe Biden's presidency started. Orbán and his associates openly support Republican Party candidate Donald Trump in the upcoming November presidential elections in the United States.