Hungary in talks on Russian gas shipments via Ukraine, PM Orban says

By Krisztina Than

BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Hungary is in talks with Russia and Ukraine on keeping open gas shipments via Ukraine even though its Russian gas imports now come via the Turkstream pipeline, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday, adding he did not want to give up that route.

The pipeline, via Ukraine, is one of the last main Russian gas routes to Europe, but it is due to shut at the end of this year as Kyiv does not want to extend a five-year transit agreement which brings gas to Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Austria.

"We are now trying the trick ... that what if the gas, by the time it enters the territory of Ukraine, would no longer be Russian but would be already in the ownership of the buyers," Orban told a briefing. "So the gas that enters Ukraine would no longer be Russian gas but it would be Hungarian gas."

Orban said talks were ongoing and it was not clear whether the Russian partner and Ukraine would accept that, but Hungary would not give up the Ukraine transit route for gas.

Hungary this year imported some 7.5 billion cubic metres of Russian gas via the Turkstream pipeline and additional amounts via Romania. It also has domestic production of around 1-1.5 billion cubic metres of gas, Orban said.

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico warned of a gas crisis on Friday as Ukraine continued to reject extending the transit of natural gas through its territory due to the war.

(Reporting by Krisztina Than; Editing by Hugh Lawson, Alexandra Hudson)