Hungary has found where it will supply oil after it stopped receiving it through a Russian oil pipeline, the operation of which was blocked by Ukraine. Negotiations are proceeding successfully and are already at the final stage.
This was reported by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Péter Szijártó, the Hungarian publication Hirado reports.
"We can guarantee the supply of oil to Hungary in the long term," he said, but did not name the new oil source.
Szijjártó also noted that the war between Ukraine and Russia does not threaten the supply of natural gas to Hungary — it occurs through the Turkish Stream gas pipeline, which runs through Turkey, Bulgaria and Serbia.
The supply of nuclear fuel is also continuous, so there are no threats to the functioning of Hungaryʼs only nuclear power plant, Paks.
According to the Hungarian minister, the Hungarian government monitors the conflicts and their impact on the country. However, Hungary considers unacceptable the fact that the European Commission allegedly did not take a single step to "protect Hungary and Slovakia from the boycott of Ukraine."
What preceded
Russiaʼs “Lukoil” has stopped supplying oil to Hungary and Slovakia due to Kyivʼs sanctions against the company, which effectively prohibit it from using the territory of Ukraine for transit. Both countries continued to receive Russian oil, taking advantage of the sanctions exemptions granted by the EU on the condition that they quickly find alternative sources of oil. However, this did not happen.
Due to the fact that Hungary and Slovakia no longer receive Russian oil, they even initiated the consultation procedure of the arbitration court with the European Commission. However, their attempt failed — the European Commission rejected the request to force Kyiv to allow the transit of oil from the Russian Federation. Instead, the EU offered Croatia as an alternative for oil supplies — Hungary called the country "unreliable".
Hungary and Slovakia resorted to threats: Szijjártó said that his country would block EU military aid to Ukraine until sanctions against “Lukoil” were lifted, and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico threatened to cut diesel exports to Ukraine. Ukraine has declared that it will not cancel the sanctions against Lukoil.
Author: Iryna Perepechko