Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban accused Ukraine on Monday of planning to destabilize Hungary's energy system and ordered the deployment of troops and equipment to protect critical infrastructure, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
The agency notes that his actions further exacerbate the dispute with Ukraine over the interruption of supplies through the "Druzhba" oil pipeline, which transports Russian crude oil to Hungary and Slovakia.
Both sides blame Kiev for the prolonged suspension of supplies to their refineries. Kiev claims the outage was caused by a Russian drone strike on pipeline equipment in western Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Orban, in a video statement on his Facebook page, reiterated that the Druzhba shutdown was for "political, not technical reasons," and said intelligence reports indicated a possible further disruption of Hungary's energy system. "I see that Ukraine is preparing further actions to disrupt the functioning of the Hungarian energy system," Orban said. "That is why I have ordered the strengthening of protection of critical energy infrastructure." This means we will deploy troops and equipment needed to repel attacks near key energy facilities.“
Hungary and Slovakia have maintained ties with Moscow and disagree with their European Union partners over military support for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.
On Monday, Hungary blocked a new package of EU sanctions against Russia in response to the disruption of Russian oil supplies.
Orban has described Hungary's upcoming parliamentary elections on April 12 as a difficult choice between “war or peace”, saying his opponents would drag the country into the war raging in neighboring Ukraine.