BUDAPEST (Hungary), Feb 18: Hungary is suspending its shipments of diesel to neighbouring Ukraine until interruptions to Russian oil supplies via a pipeline that crosses Ukrainian territory are resolved, Hungary’s foreign minister said Wednesday.
Russian oil shipments to Hungary and Slovakia have been interrupted since January 27 after what Ukrainian officials say were Russian attacks that damaged the Druzhba pipeline, which carries Russian crude into Central Europe.
Hungary and Slovakia, which have both received a temporary exemption from a European Union policy prohibiting imports of Russian oil, have accused Ukraine – without providing evidence – of deliberately holding up supplies.
In a video posted on social media Wednesday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the interruption to oil deliveries was “a political decision made by the Ukrainian president himself.”
Ukraine has denied such accusations.
Szijjarto added that Hungary has enough oil reserves to last more than three months, and that its energy security was assured.
As nearly every country in Europe has significantly reduced or entirely ceased Russian energy imports, Hungary – an EU and NATO member – has maintained and even increased its supply of Russian oil and gas since Moscow launched its war in Ukraine in February 2022.
Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban has long argued Russian fossil fuels are indispensable for its economy and that switching to energy sourced from elsewhere would cause an immediate economic collapse – an argument some experts dispute.
Widely seen as the Kremlin’s biggest advocate in the EU, Orban has vigorously opposed the bloc’s efforts to sanction Moscow over its invasion, and blasted attempts to hit Russia’s energy revenues that help finance the war.
Facing what promises to be the most challenging election of his last 16 years in power in April, Orban has launched an aggressive anti-Ukraine and anti-EU campaign, seeking to convince voters that the neighbouring country poses an existential risk to Hungary and that he is the only guarantor of its safety.
Following the interruption to Druzhba oil supplies at the end of January, Hungary’s government asked neighbouring Croatia to allow Russian oil delivered by sea to be pumped to refineries in Hungary and Slovakia via the Adria pipeline.
Croatia’s Economy Minister Ante Susnjar has said his country would not allow energy supplies in Central Europe be threatened, but pushed back on Hungary’s request.
Writing on social media site X on Monday, Susnjar said there are “no technical excuses left for staying tied to Russian crude for any EU country.”
“A barrel bought from Russia may appear cheaper to some countries, but helps fund war and attacks on Ukrainian people,” he wrote. (AP)
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