Hungary, Russia to Start New Gas Supply Talks
Hungary has agreed to start negotiating with Russia on gas shipments after its supply deal expires in 2021, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Orban said Hungary strove for "open and transparent" relations with Russia and was trying to protect its economic and trade links, which have been seriously damaged by the sanctions imposed on Russia since 2014.
"Hungary maintains its stance that non-economic problems cannot be handled with economic means ... we very much hope that soon we will see good Russian-European co-operation," Orban told a joint news conference with Putin.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs)
