Hungary’s purchases of Russian pipeline gas fall 14% in January-May

MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/. Hungary’s purchases of Russian pipeline gas fell by 14% in value terms between January and May as the country remained the leader among EU members in this regard, according to Eurostat data and TASS calculations.

The European Union imported Russian pipeline gas worth 575 mln euros in May. To date, the TurkStream pipeline remains the only active route for Russian gas supplies to Europe.

Hungary (204 mln euros), Greece (129 mln euros), and Bulgaria (122 mln euros) remained the leading purchasers. Slovakia purchased gas from Russia worth 121 mln euros.

In total, the European Union paid 2.4 bln euros for Russian pipeline gas between January and May 2026 compared to 2.8 bln euros in the previous year. The main buyers were Hungary (1.1 bln euros), which reduced its purchases by 14%, Bulgaria (561 mln euros), and Greece (472 mln euros).

TASS reported earlier that Russia increased gas exports to Europe via the TurkStream pipeline by 6.5% year-on-year to 7.65 bln cubic meters in January-May.