Hungary’s president Viktor Orban has succeeded in pushing through legislation that would help Russia build the South Stream natural gas pipeline to the west that avoids Ukraine. The parliament approved a bill that would allow non-pipeline operators to build oil pipelines on Hungarian soil, going against EU directives opposing such measures. Hungary stopped selling Ukraine gas at the end of September just days after Orban met with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At around the same time, Gazprom (which controls 50 percent of the South Stream project) increased its gas supplies to Hungary by nearly 70 percent. The EU and the United States have opposed the South Stream project, claiming its aim is to isolate Ukraine, and earlier pressured Bulgaria to cease construction work on it.
