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What Hungary's gas deal meant for Kyiv
Summary
A look back at the 2021 Hungary–Russia gas agreement and the dispute it triggered with Ukraine.
What did Hungary's new gas contract with Russia mean for Ukraine as of 29 September 2021? Two days earlier, on 27 September 2021, Hungary and Russia had signed a 15-year deal under which Gazprom would supply Hungary with 4.5 billion cubic metres of gas annually via Serbia and Austria.
Kyiv reacted sharply. Ukraine criticised the pact as a purely political and economically unreasonable decision. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó responded by accusing Ukraine of meddling in Hungary's internal affairs.
The exchange put Hungary–Ukraine relations under strain at a moment when Kyiv was also preoccupied at home. On 23 September 2021, Ukraine had passed a law ordering oligarchs to stay out of politics, a day after a failed assassination attempt on an aide of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Officials said the attack could have been a response to that reform.
The two stories were separate, but together they showed Ukraine pressed on two fronts: defending its position on regional energy arrangements abroad while pushing a contested reform at home.
