Hungary and Slovakia will receive oil again through the Drujba pipeline, Peter Magyar announces
The flow of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia through the Ukrainian section of the Drujba pipeline could be resumed next week, the winner of the Hungarian parliamentary elections, Peter Magyar, said on Friday, Reuters reports, taken by Agerpres.
Hungary and Slovakia have stopped receiving oil through the pipeline since January 27, following what Ukraine says was a Russian drone strike, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said repairs would take time.
Diplomatic dispute between Kyiv and Budapest
But acting Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovakia's Robert Fico argued for their part that Ukraine delayed the repair of the pipeline in a blackmail action against them for refusing to support Kiev in the war with Russia and especially because Orban opposes Ukraine's EU membership.
After stopping the flow of Russian oil through the Drujba pipeline, Orban blocked a 90 billion euro European financial aid for Ukraine and a new package of EU sanctions against Russia. But the Hungarian nationalist prime minister lost the elections on Sunday to the pro-European conservative Peter Magyar.
After Orban lost the election, Zelenski promised to complete repairs and restore the pipeline by the end of this month. For his part, the future Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar said on Friday that, based on the information received from the Hungarian oil group MOL, the Drujba pipeline would be put back into operation by Ukraine as early as next week.
Magyar does not want to give up Russian oil
On the other hand, Magyar signaled that the government he will lead does not intend to give up Russian oil, contrary to the EU's policy of reducing and finally eliminating energy imports from Russia.
The general director of the MOL company, Zsolt Hernadi, will travel to Russia to discuss oil purchases. “They will discuss several issues and will certainly address the fact that it is not enough to restart the pipeline, as oil is also needed,” Peter Magyar pointed out. “They will have to discuss whether Hungary can expect an uninterrupted supply of oil, despite the ongoing events,” he added.
Through the sanctions imposed on Russia, the EU has already decided to stop imports of Russian oil transported by sea, but made an exception for the oil delivered through pipelines, since Hungary and Slovakia are landlocked and it is more difficult to obtain oil from other sources.
