"Hungary does not intend to abandon cooperation with Russia, which offers the most favorable conditions for natural gas supplies, for political reasons," said Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto.

Axar.az reports citing foreign media.

He noted that sanctions and artificial restrictions in the energy sector reduce the competitiveness of the European Union. "Discrimination against certain suppliers for political reasons has a serious impact on the standard of living of the European population," the Foreign minister said in a speech at an international conference in Bucharest, broadcast by M1 TV channel.

Referring to Brussels' calls to abandon Russian gas supplies, Szijjarto noted that Hungary would do this only if it received a more profitable commercial offer. "Has Hungary ever received such an offer? The answer is unequivocal: no. There is no better offer at the moment," the minister stressed.

"That is why we are not abandoning energy cooperation with Russia and are doing everything possible to protect the Turkish Stream pipeline, which is currently the most important guarantee of the security of our supplies," Szijjarto explained.