Energy blackmail or self-defense? Hungary cuts off gas to Ukraine

Hungary is suspending gas supplies to Ukraine until crude oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline are resumed, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on Wednesday in a video posted on Facebook.

– As long as Ukraine does not supply oil, it will not receive gas from Hungary. We will protect Hungary's energy security by maintaining stable fuel prices and reducing utility costs for Hungarian families, the Prime Minister noted.

– We are gradually suspending gas supplies and will store the surpluses in the country – he added.

At the end of January, the Druzhba pipeline, through which Russia delivers oil to Hungary and Slovakia through Ukraine, was damaged in a Russian attack. The authorities in Kiev assure that they are repairing the oil pipeline, but Orban's government maintains that the Ukrainian authorities are deliberately stopping the resumption of transit and calls these actions “blackmail”. (PAP)

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