In its efforts to promote secessionist ideas among the half-million-strong Rusin community along Ukraine’s Western border, Moscow is simultaneously pursuing three goals. First, it is forcing Kyiv to divert its attention from Russian aggression in the east to another theater, thus limiting the ability of... MORE

In November 2013, China, Serbia and Hungary signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of the Hungaro-Serbian High-Speed Railway (HSR), connecting Belgrade and Budapest by rail to facilitate transporting Chinese exports from Greek ports to European markets. First proposed by Beijing in February... MORE

One of the consequences of the Kremlin’s adventurism in Ukraine appears to have been an invigoration of European Far Right parties that sense an opportunity to orient themselves toward Moscow and achieve a champion on the world stage. A spate of recent and upcoming conferences... MORE

Hungary’s Fidesz-led government under Viktor Orban, conservative and Europe-oriented in a traditionalist sense, and strongly anti-communist ever since Fidesz’s formative years, has turned toward Russia for solutions to some of Hungary’s main economic problems, especially in the energy sector. This government seems convinced, for example,... MORE

On February 6, Hungary’s parliament approved the Russian-Hungarian agreement for cooperation on nuclear energy. Under the agreement, Rosatom shall build two nuclear power blocs in Hungary, financed by Russian state credit. Hungary’s conservative government, led by the Fidesz party and enjoying a parliamentary supermajority (slightly... MORE

Hungarian MOL and Wintershall of Germany have signed an agreement whereby MOL acquires ownership stakes in 14 offshore oil fields originally licensed to Wintershall in the North Sea. Signed in Budapest on December 13, the agreement is expected to be closed in early 2014 pending... MORE

The Croatian authorities’ pressures on Hungarian MOL (see EDM, November 14) are not a novel development. In 2011, the government (led by the Croatian Democratic Union at that time) imposed a legal cap on MOL’s stake in INA at 49 percent. When the European Union’s... MORE

The Croatian government and the Hungarian MOL oil and gas group have entered into negotiations over the future of INA, the main oil and gas company in Croatia and the largest business entity in the country. MOL (itself Hungary’s largest business group, 25 percent state-owned)... MORE

According to Naftohaz Ukrainy officials, all the ongoing natural gas purchases from German RWE (see accompanying article) are carried out under a framework agreement signed in May 2012. This envisages deliveries of 5 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2013, with the subsequent possibility of expansion... MORE

Denting Russian Gazprom’s monopoly, Ukraine is procuring small but growing volumes of natural gas from Europe. The German Rheinisch-Westfaelisches Elektrizitaetswerk (RWE) is providing the volumes through its subsidiary, RWE Supply & Trading.  Ukraine’s neighbors Hungary and Poland are providing the transit services. The three countries... MORE