On Wednesday 18 February, Hungary announced that it was suspending deliveries of diesel fuel to Ukraine due to the suspension of oil transit via the Druzhba pipeline, which was damaged by Russian fire at the end of January but has since been repaired (see EUROPE 13810/19).
“Shipments will not resume until oil transit to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline is restored”, warned Foreign Affairs Minister Péter Szijjártó.
The Slovak prime minister, Robert Fico, threatened Ukraine with retaliatory measures if the situation persisted, explaining that, according to the Slovak secret services, the repair work on the pipeline had been completed. “If the President (of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky) considers that these deliveries are not important, we can decide to withdraw from this agreement to deliver electricity” to Ukraine when the electricity is cut off because of Russian strikes, he warned.
Péter Szijjártó explained that he and his Slovakian counterpart had written to the European Commission to remind it that, legally, if Russian crude oil imports by pipeline became impossible, Hungary and Slovakia could buy Russian oil by sea, via Croatia. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)