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Why Hungary's Russian gas deal drew Kyiv's fire
Summary
A look back at the gas pact signed on 27 September 2021 and the supply drop on the Yamal–Europe pipeline that followed within days.
Why did a bilateral gas contract between Budapest and Moscow become a regional dispute? On 1 October 2021, the question sat alongside a sharp fall in Russian flows to Europe.
On 27 September 2021, Hungary and Russia signed a deal under which Gazprom would supply Hungary with 4.5 billion cubic metres of gas a year for 15 years, routed via Serbia and Austria. Ukraine criticised the pact, calling it a purely political and economically unreasonable decision. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó responded by accusing Ukraine of meddling in Hungary's internal affairs.
Then, on 1 October 2021, Russian gas supplies via the Yamal–Europe pipeline fell almost 77% in a single day, pushing European gas prices to an all-time high. Members of the European Parliament asked for investigations into possible market manipulation.
The picture was mixed. Gazprom's exports outside the former Soviet Union had risen 15.3% year on year in the first nine months of 2021, and German utility Uniper confirmed that Russia was meeting its contractual obligations.
The Hungarian contract and the pipeline drop were separate events, and the reported facts do not link them. Together, they showed how closely gas routes, prices and politics were intertwined in the region on that date.
