MOSCOW: Hungary wants guarantees from Russia that it will not charge Budapest more for oil and gas, despite global prices jumping due to conflict in the Middle East, Hungary’s foreign minister said Wednesday.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was in Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin later Wednesday to press the request.
Energy prices have surged since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday, including the benchmark price of Russian crude.
Hungary is the European Union’s biggest importer of Russian fossil fuels, having maintained purchases and secured exemptions from sanctions despite pressure from Brussels amid the Russian offensive on Ukraine.
Budapest was already facing disruption from the closure of the Druzhba pipeline, which transports Russian oil to Hungary and which Ukraine says was damaged in a Russian strike.
Szijjarto said he would be seeking assurances that “the crude oil and natural gas necessary for Hungary’s energy supply will continue to be available to us.
“I am also here to obtain guarantees that, despite the changed circumstances and the global energy crisis, Russia will continue to deliver the necessary quantities of oil and gas for Hungary at unchanged prices,” he added.
Budapest relies on Russian oil and is currently in a standoff with Kyiv over a halt to supplies via the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, which runs through Ukraine.
Ukraine says Russia attacked the pipeline in January and that the threat of another strike was holding up repairs.
Hungary and Slovakia — which also buys Russian crude — accuse Kyiv of delaying the repairs in an attempt to put pressure on them and choke them of Russian energy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said buyers of Russian oil were “facing blackmail” and accused Kyiv of “the deliberate blocking of deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline.”
Hungary presses Russia not to hike energy prices amid Iran turmoil
https://arab.news/9t6ew
Hungary presses Russia not to hike energy prices amid Iran turmoil
- Energy prices have surged since the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday
- Hungary is the European Union’s biggest importer of Russian fossil fuels
German union calls Lufthansa pilots strike for Thursday, Friday
- Andreas Pinheiro, the union president, said there was “still no offer on the table” from Lufthansa
- Almost 800 flights were canceled during the February 12 walkout
BERLIN: Pilots for German airline Lufthansa will go on strike for a second time Thursday and Friday over a pensions dispute, the Vereinigung Cockpit union said in a statement.
The strike will affect Lufthansa Cargo and passenger flights “departing from German airports between 00:01 local time on March 12, 2026 and 23:59 local time on March 13, 2026,” the union said.
However, flights to several key Middle East destinations will be excluded from the industrial action “in light of the current situation” in the region, according to the statement.
Andreas Pinheiro, the union president, said there was “still no offer on the table” from Lufthansa following a one-day strike last month.
Almost 800 flights were canceled during the February 12 walkout, with cabin crew also staging a strike on the same day.
Pilots for Lufthansa subsidiary CityLine will hold strike on Thursday, Vereinigung Cockpit said, blaming “the failure of negotiations on a new collective wage agreement.”
Lufthansa announced one year ago that it would close Lufthansa CityLine, with operations and staff moved to a new subsidiary.
Destinations in Egypt, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Yemen, Jordan, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates will be excluded from the strikes, the union said.
Announcing its 2025 annual results last week, the Lufthansa group reported a forecast-beating operating profit of 1.96 billion euros ($2.27 billion), around 20 percent higher than the previous year.
However, the airline warned it faced an uncertain outlook because of the Middle East conflict.
