The delegation sent by Viktor Orban to check the Drujba pipeline has arrived in Kiev. Ukraine does not recognize it
A team of Hungarian experts tasked with assessing the condition of the Drujba oil pipeline has already arrived in Kiev, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on Thursday. Ukrainians do not recognize it.
Budapest sent the delegation, led by Gabor Czepek, state secretary in the Hungarian Ministry of Energy, to check whether the pipeline is functional, Kyiv Independent notes.
The Hungarian government has previously accused Kiev of using the pretext of damage to the pipeline in Moscow's attacks to justify stopping the transit of Russian crude oil to Hungary.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the visit was not coordinated with authorities in Kiev and that the Hungarian team had no official status and no scheduled meetings with Ukrainian officials.
In an online chat with Czepek, Orban asked him to “try to get in touch with government institutions responsible for energy.”
“We should politely try to establish contact with the Ukrainian side. If that doesn't work, we should ask for permission to go there ourselves and conduct an on-site inspection,” the prime minister told the official.
The Ukrainian section of the Drujba pipeline, which used to deliver Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia, was taken out of service at the end of January following a Russian attack in western Ukraine, according to Kiev.
Bratislava and Budapest have accused Ukraine of lies and blackmail and vowed to continue blocking the European Union's 20th sanctions package against Russia and the EU's 90 billion euro ($107 billion) loan to Kiev in retaliation.
According to Viktor Orban, the Hungarian side will contact European Union diplomats and try to exert diplomatic pressure on Ukraine to get a response.
“It is an absurd situation that we are here in this situation,” said the Hungarian prime minister.
The European Commission said it had proposed sending its own mission to inspect the pipeline, but had not yet received a response from Ukraine. The commission does not have details about the delegation sent by Hungary, spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said.
Orban also asked Czepek if his team was “harassed” on the road. The official from the Ministry of Energy replied that the delegation arrived safely at the Hungarian embassy in Kyiv after a 14-hour journey.
