Hungary will deploy the army to guard its section of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline

The Hungarian government has ordered the military to secure the Hungarian section of the gas pipeline following reports of an attempted sabotage on Serbian territory. 

This was announced by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, according to a report by Index on April 5. The decision was made by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán following an emergency security meeting.

According to the foreign minister, Hungarian military units will guard the facility along its entire length—from the Serbian-Hungarian to the Hungarian-Slovak border. Péter Szijjártó also held talks with the energy ministers of Serbia, Turkey, and Russia, during which the parties agreed on the need for unprecedented strengthening of security measures along the pipeline. Earlier, Budapest had suggested Ukraine’s involvement in the incident in Serbia; however, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs categorically rejected these allegations, calling them a Russian operation under a false flag.

Serbian special services and military units neutralized an alleged threat to blow up a critical infrastructure facility in the municipality of Kanjiža. The director of Serbia’s Military Security Agency, Đuro Jovanović, announced the identification and arrest of an individual who allegedly planned to blow up the “Turkish Stream” gas pipeline on the country’s territory. 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced the convening of an emergency meeting of the Defense Council in connection with the attempted sabotage of a gas pipeline on the territory of neighboring Serbia. 

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó suggested a Ukrainian connection in the attempted sabotage of the gas pipeline supplying gas from Russia via Serbia. 

Péter Magyar, leader of the opposition party “Tisa,” stated that the alleged foiled sabotage on the gas pipeline in Serbia is a staged operation aimed at disrupting the parliamentary elections in Hungary.