The Hungarian government is under constant attack from its Western allies for its alleged close ties to Russia. One of the more recent examples of that line of attack manifested is the left-wing socialist Pedro Sánchez government in Spain vetoing the acquisition of the Spanish train manufacturer Talgo by the Hungarian consortium Ganz-MÁVAG Europe, citing concerns about the Hungarian government-owned company’s supposed relationship with the Kremlin.
Furthermore, the West would also want to see Hungary give up importing crude oil from Russia in protest of the invasion of Ukraine, despite it being by far its #1 import country in terms of energy supply, and such a move would increase utility prices for the general population significantly.
The Hungarian oil company MOL, however, has pointed out the hypocrisy in that stance.
According to the Financial Times, MOL Chief Operating Officer György Bacsa has stated ‘Nobody says oil products refined in Turkey or India from Russian crude cannot enter Europe. Nobody protests, and their role keeps growing,’ despite the fact that those countries continue to buy their crude oil from President Putin’s Russia, essentially ‘laundering’ the commodity, as the FT itself confirms in the article.
‘MOL continues to buy Russian crude oil—enjoying an open-ended exemption of the EU’s ban on crude imports from Russia—even stepping in as manager of the oil traversing Ukraine after Kyiv barred Lukoil from using its stretch of the Druzhba pipeline in July. Bacsa said the company talked to Ukraine and Russia to ensure the flow of oil that remains vital to the region,’ the British paper wrote about the issue.
Bacsa was also involved in the aforementioned failed acquisition deal with Talgo in Spain. He chairs the Ganz-MÁVAG Europe consortium which tried to buy the train manufacturer. Bacsa has accused the Spanish government of ‘ignoring basic EU freedoms’ when vetoing the €600 billion deal.
Back on the subject of Russian oil imports, Bacsa said:
‘We are left to our own devices, and some countries cannot kick Russian oil and gas, while others engage in the hypocrisy of buying repackaged stuff, and enjoy the benefits…We can’t have the sanctioning EU countries get weakened by their own decisions. That would not be a sanction. That would be a fatal own goal'.
'We are left to our own devices, and some countries cannot kick Russian oil and gas, while others engage in the hypocrisy of buying repackaged stuff, and enjoy the benefits'
He is not the first Hungarian public figure to accuse the West of hypocrisy on Russian energy imports.
In October 2023, Political Director for the Prime Minister of Hungary Balázs Orbán called out the US government for doubling their import of enriched uranium from Russia since the start of the Ukraine invasion, while constantly criticizing Hungary for its business relations with the Kremlin. Since then, however, the Biden administration government has halted all imports of Russian uranium.
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