Victorious Orban Mulls Paying for Gas in Rubles After Putin Call

(Bloomberg) -- Hungary won't rule out paying rubles for Russian gas, newly re-elected Prime Minister Viktor Orban said, following a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Orban's comment, made at his first press conference since he scored a crushing victory in general elections on Sunday, followed remarks by his foreign minister that Hungary was working on the “technical details” on how to ensure the country continues to import Russian gas.

Putin's demand to be paid in the Russian currency has been jarring the natural gas market for days, with traders on edge about how that may affect supplies. Some European Union nations, like France, have said the request wasn't a breach of contract as companies would still to be able to pay in euros. Others like Denmark have condemned the Kremlin's demand.

“We have no difficulty at all paying in rubles,” Orban told reporters on Wednesday. “So if the Russians ask for it, we'll pay in rubles.”

At the same time, Orban, the EU leader with the closest ties to Putin, pushed back against suggestions that he was Putin's ally. He said the pair talked as leaders in adversarial camps, with Hungary an EU member that has backed economic sanctions for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, and also part of the NATO military alliance.

Orban said little about his immediate plans after his party unexpectedly retained a parliamentary supermajority in Sunday's ballot. He said he wouldn't name a new cabinet until May, when he hoped to have more clarity on where he needed to focus his policies.

Orban is under pressure to compromise after the EU triggered a new rule-of-law mechanism on Tuesday, threatening billions of euros in funding. The country's lukewarm support for Ukraine, including barring weapons supplies to Ukraine and rejecting expanding EU sanctions on Russia to oil and gas, have led to a backlash including from Poland, Budapest's closest ally.

Orban said he would work to patch up ties with Warsaw, which he said was crucial to helping Hungary resist EU demands for change. He said the government may impose a tax on “windfall profit” for some companies if it needs to plug budget gaps. The five-term premier also made clear that he intended to keep Hungary in the EU.