Hungary and Slovakia ask Croatia for help getting Russian oil – after war of words with Kyiv over pipeline blast
More now on Hungary, where the US’s Marco Rubio has been visiting Viktor Orban.
Both Orban’s country and Slovakia have turned to Croatia for help getting Russian oil after a disruption to flows via Ukraine.
Kyiv’s foreign ministry last week blamed a Russian attack on its own pipeline in Ukraine for a halt to flows to Eastern Europe since 27 January.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha posted a photo on X of firefighters and what he said was Druzhba pipeline infrastructure burning, accusing Hungary of not publicly commenting on blast because its ally Russia was to blame.
That drew a swift response from Hungary, which instead accused the Ukrainians of switching off power to that section of the pipeline.
On Monday, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijarto wrote in a post on X that Hungary and Slovakia had asked Croatia to permit Russian oil flows via the Adria pipeline instead.
“We request Croatia to enable the transport of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia via the Adria pipeline, as our sanctions exemption provides the possibility to import Russian oil by sea if pipeline deliveries are disrupted,” Szijarto wrote on X.
“The security of a country’s energy supply must never be an ideological issue.
“We therefore expect Croatia, unlike Ukraine, not to endanger the oil supply security of Hungary and Slovakia for political reasons.”
Croatian eonomy minister Ante Susnjar suggested his country would be able to comply with Hungary’s request.
The Adria oil pipeline runs from the Croatian port of Omisalj to oil refineries in Croatia and others in southern and central Europe.
Hungary and Slovakia both hold exemptions to EU sanctions on Russian piped oil.
They rely on both Russian oil and gas and have fought EU moves to end those flows as part of efforts to cut off energy revenue funding Russia’s war in Ukraine.
