Hungary: Stopping oil shipments through Ukraine coordinated from the EU
The EU has coordinated a halt to Russian oil transit through Ukraine, Hungary's foreign minister said.
According to RIA Novosti, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Relations Peter Szijjarto said that the EU coordinated to stop the transportation of Russian oil transiting through Ukraine.
“The events and negotiations of recent days have confirmed my feeling that this is a process coordinated from Brussels,” Foreign Minister Szijjarto said at an event organized by Matthias Corwin College.
When the host asked to clarify whether the diplomat believed that someone in the European Union had asked Ukraine to ban Russian oil shipments, Szijjarto replied in the affirmative.
According to Mr. Szijjarto, Brussels cannot accept that Budapest, despite being pressured, does not give up and continues its policy of establishing peace.
“The EU is weak, but not so weak that it cannot influence a country like Ukraine – which is under consideration for membership – if it threatens the energy supplies of two other member states.”
In mid-July, Hungary announced that it was suspending the transit of Russian Lukoil oil through Ukraine via the Druzhba pipeline. Slovakia made a similar announcement, clarifying that the reason was the inclusion of a Russian company on Ukraine's sanctions list.
In December 2022, Western countries introduced sanctions banning the supply of Russian oil to the EU by sea. The only exception concerns the Druzhba pipeline, as otherwise some landlocked countries would have difficulty finding alternative suppliers.
The oil pipeline originates in Almetyevsk, passes through Bryansk and then divides into two sections: northern (through Belarusian territory towards Poland and Germany) and southern (through Ukrainian territory towards Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic).
