Hungary avoided a clash with the EU thanks to a last-minute deal that secures its access to Russian gas at a closed-door meeting on January 27.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has stated that Hungary agreed to extend sanctions against Russia after the EU provided it with "commitments" related to energy security, Ukrainska Pravda reports.

EU foreign ministers gave Budapest assurances to ensure Hungary’s “energy security” which has agreed to extend Russian sanctions for another six months, after Hungary dropped its objections opposition, Bloomberg and Reuters report.

"The European Commission committed to protecting gas and oil pipelines leading to EU member states. They made it clear that the integrity of energy infrastructure supplying EU countries is a security matter for the entire EU. The European Commission is also seeking guarantees from Ukraine to ensure the continued supply of oil to the EU,” the minister said.

The details of the deal with the EU were not revealed but EU statements said that ensuring energy security for EU members was part of the EU mandate. The European Union's top foreign policy diplomat Kaja Kallas said "energy solidarity with landlocked countries" was an EU priority and said that the EU’s assurances had satisfied Hungary.

The EU foreign ministers signed off on an agreement to extend sanctions against Russia for another six months at the meeting on January 27.

As followed by bne IntelliNews, previously Hungary had withheld its consent to extend EU sanctions against Russia at the meeting of EU ambassadors on January 24. The EU is also currently debating a sixteenth sanctions package that will be released on the third anniversary of the start of the war on February 24.

Proposals to ban the import of Russian LNG into Europe that were being discussed has also been excluded from the upcoming package as Europe remains hooked on Russian gas. Last year imports of gas – both LNG and piped gas that largely goes to Central Europe – increased by 14% y/y to some 24bcm.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said he would only support the extension of EU sanctions on Russia if Ukraine agreed to three conditions, including the restoration of Russian gas transit through Ukraine and assurances on pipeline security.

Ukraine ended its transit of Russian gas under the previous gas transit deal on January 1 taking some 15bcm out of the market, a large share of which is being delivered to the Central European states via Soviet-era pipelines.

Orban’s overt Russian sympathies has been a thorn in the side of the EU and the Prime Minister has used his de facto veto over any new sanctions as a bargaining chip to squeeze concessions out of the European Commission (EC).

He has also clashed with Kyiv which has been pressuring its European partners to tighten sanctions on Russia and cut it off from its hydrocarbon export revenues without much luck.

In a warning shot, last year Kyiv temporarily banned the transit of oil belonging to the Russia’s privately owned oil major Lukoil across Ukraine’s territory threatening an energy crisis in Ukraine if Russian oil supplies were cut off completely. However, as the ban only related to Lukoil and so allowed the other Russian companies also using the pipeline to replace the missing oil the ban made little practical difference. But the move was seen as a warning by Kyiv that it could end the delivery of Russian oil completely if Hungary continued to block sanctions and support the Kremlin’s desire to keep the European market open.

It is not immediately clear whether to what extent these conditions have been fulfilled, but the European Commission said in a statement that it would “continue discussions with Ukraine on the supply to Europe through the gas pipeline system” and that it was willing to include Hungary and Slovakia in the process, according to Bloomberg.

Following the end of Ukraine’s gas transit deal Hungary and Slovakia have the most affected European countries as Russian gas makes up a large share of their energy supplies. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy most recently offered Slovakia to transit gas from Azerbaijan as an alternative but talks with Azerbaijan has so far not produced any deals.

Orban also called for an "end to attacks" on the TurkStream gas pipeline, the only remaining pipe gas connection between Russia and the EU, which delivers Russian gas to southern Europe.

As covered by bne IntelliNews, the significant sixteenth sanctions package is expected in February and is being brokered by Poland – an ardent Ukraine supporter -- which has taken over the EU's rotating presidency from Hungary. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk openly criticised Orban last week after Budapest announced its intention to veto the renewable of sanctions.

The EC is reportedly considering proposing a ban on imports of Russian primary aluminium as part of the sixteenth package of sanctions against Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. but despite recent calls by ten members of the EU to also ban LNG imports, this idea has been dropped, according to reports, as unworkable.

As bne IntelliNews reported, in addition to the end of Ukraine’s transit gas, another additional 10bcm of gas needs to be found in the summer of this year to replace the faster than expected use of EU’s stored gas this winter due to colder than expected weather conditions. Imports of Russian LNG into the EU hit a record-high of 17.8mn tonnes in 2024, rising from 15.1mn tonnes in 2023.

Apart from the metals and energy sanctions, the EU also reportedly wants to pressure financial institutions that help Russia circumvent Western restrictions. This is in line with the “strangulation sanctions” applied by the US last year and complicating cross-border transactions of Russia with its main export partners.

As part of these financial sanctions, more banks could reportedly be cut off from the SWIFT international payments system.

The package could also include restrictions on dozens more vessels that are part of Moscow’s shadow fleet of tankers transporting Russian oil and further export controls on goods used for military purposes.

In fifteenth sanction package the EU officially adopted in December 2024, the European Union banned access to its ports and services for another 52 vessels, bringing the total number of sanctioned ships to 79.