COVID Diplomacy: Hungary, Russia and India

Hungary’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on today, securing 2 million doses of the Sputnik V vaccine. (On Jan. 20, Hungary had become the first EU country to complete their regulatory approval of Sputnik V.) Szijjarto also met with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on gas deliveries, discussing a new gas deal involving a) 6.2 billion cubic meters of gas to Hungary in 2021 and b) the completion of a 15-km long pipeline segment in Hungary for transmission of gas onto Serbia. The deal awaits Szijjarto’s meeting with Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller.