Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has threatened that his country will block the 20th package of sanctions against Russia over the European Commission's position on the Druzhba pipeline.
His video message was posted on Facebook.
“If the European Commission prioritizes Ukraine over Slovakia, it will have to forget about its support for the 20th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation or about our readiness to facilitate Ukraine's rapid accession to the European Union without meeting the necessary requirements,“ Fico said.
He noted that Russian oil has not flowed through the Druzhba pipeline for two months. Ukraine, which insists that the pipeline is damaged, has not yet provided access to the site of the alleged accident. The politician pointed out that the restoration of the Druzhba pipeline affects all of Central Europe, not just Slovakia and Hungary.
“We would not have had problems with high fuel prices, but once again it turns out that hatred and obsession with Russia are winning. We would rather hurt ourselves, punish ourselves, allow our people to pay more for gasoline and diesel and subject them to a shortage of these resources than receive gas and oil from Russia“, the politician said.
The Hungarian MOL Group reported that oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia stopped on January 27. In mid-February, Slovakia declared a national crisis due to an oil shortage. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in early March that Kiev needed 1-1.5 months, to resume operations. He noted that his country would be able to resume transit by then if “EU countries do not find an alternative to blocking the 90 billion euro loan“ for Ukraine.
On February 23, Hungary imposed sanctions against the 20th package and the 90 billion euro loan from the EU for Ukraine. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that Budapest would not support any decisions in Brussels that were beneficial to Kiev until oil supplies via the “Družba“ pipeline were resumed.