The decision to stop Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline through Ukraine to Hungary and Slovakia is blackmail and will not help Kiev move closer to the European Union, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on social media.
“If Zelensky believes that blackmailing Slovakia with oil will bring Ukraine closer to the EU, he is gravely mistaken“, he wrote.
The Slovak Ministry of Economy reported a failure of the Druzhba pipeline and the suspension of oil supplies on February 13. Budapest views the pipeline shutdown as “political blackmail“ by Kiev due to Hungary's opposition to Kiev's EU membership.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said his country would stop supplying diesel fuel to Ukraine until the transit of fuel via the “Družba“ pipeline is resumed.
The Hungarian company MOL, which exports diesel fuel to Ukraine, announced that the transit of oil to Hungary and Slovakia had been suspended since January 27, after which the fuel began to arrive by sea via Croatia. According to Szijjártó, Budapest and Bratislava had approached MOL with a request to allow transit via the “Adria“ pipeline.
The Hungarian Foreign Minister explained his appeal to Croatia by stating that Ukraine “refuses to resume the transit of oil via the pipeline “Druzhba“ for political reasons“. Fico also announced a suspension of diesel fuel exports to Ukraine from the “Slovnaft“ refinery. All products will be sent to the domestic market.
“Druzhba“ is a system of main oil pipelines transporting Russian and Kazakh oil to the countries of Eastern and Central Europe. The southern branch of the pipeline transports Russian oil through Western Ukraine and is an important supply route for the landlocked countries of Eastern Europe, in particular Hungary and Slovakia.