Hungarian delegation wants talks on Druzhba inspection, Kyiv questions mission

Kyiv/Budapest/Bratislava, 11 March (CTK correspondent) - A Hungarian delegation travelled to Kyiv today to discuss an inspection of the Druzhba oil pipeline, the MTI news agency reported. Russian oil has not flowed through the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia and Hungary since 27 January, when the pipeline was damaged in a Russian attack, according to Kyiv. Slovakia has also joined the mission, the delegation’s head said. The Hungarian mission has no official status in Ukraine, no meetings with it are planned and its members arrived as tourists, Ukrainian diplomacy said in response. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also described the trip as private. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico again criticised Kyiv in front of reporters for not allowing an inspection of the Druzhba pipeline; he did not comment on the Hungarian mission.

Gábor Czepek, state secretary at the Ministry of Energy and head of the delegation, told reporters at the Hungarian-Ukrainian border that the aim was to represent Hungary’s interests at the negotiating table and push for Russian oil supplies to Hungary through the pipeline to resume as soon as possible. He added that the exploratory mission was seeking to discuss the situation not only with Ukraine’s energy ministry, but also with ambassadors in Kyiv and representatives of the European Commission.

Slovakia has also joined the mission, Czepek said. Both sides have argued in favour of the mission and the resumption of supplies through the Druzhba pipeline in a joint letter to the European Commission, he added. He noted that Urals crude delivered through the Druzhba pipeline is cheaper than other types of oil from the West, saving Hungary approximately 650 billion forints over the past four years and contributing to a regulated pricing system that keeps energy prices affordable for households.

“This group has no official status on Ukrainian territory. No official meeting is planned, so it is certainly incorrect to call it a delegation,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Heorhii Tykhyi told reporters.

“Anyone from the Schengen area can enter Ukraine this way for tourist purposes,” he added.

“And what is this delegation doing here? I don’t know. The foreign ministry told me some people had arrived. They described it as a private trip,” Zelenskyy said, according to the Ukrinform news agency.

He made the comment before a meeting with German Bundestag President Julia Klöckner.

Fico said Slovakia would continue to put pressure on Zelenskyy over oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline. He added that he intended to approach Slovak parliamentary parties, including opposition parties, to ask them to sign a letter addressed to Zelenskyy. In it, they should call on him to allow an inspection of the Druzhba pipeline and resume its operation.

Last week, Czepek said he had sent a letter to Ukrainian Energy Minister Denys Shmyhal giving Ukraine three days to restore the pipeline’s operation, the BBC News website recalled.

Russian oil has not flowed through the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia and Hungary since 27 January, when the pipeline was damaged in a Russian attack, according to Kyiv. Bratislava and Budapest, by contrast, accuse Kyiv of delaying the pipeline’s resumption and of trying to influence Hungary’s parliamentary elections in April, where Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is fighting to remain in power. Ukraine points out that Russia finances its war against Ukraine with revenues from oil and gas exports. According to estimates, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and thousands of civilians, including women and children, have been killed in the war over the past four years, the vast majority of them Ukrainians.

Budapest has decided to block a 90 billion euro (2.2 trillion Kč) European Union loan to Ukraine as well as the adoption of the 20th package of sanctions against Russia until Ukraine resumes pipeline operations. Last Friday, Orbán also said, according to news agencies, that he would halt transit shipments through Hungary to Ukraine until Kyiv resumed supplies through Druzhba. Hungary had already detained seven cash couriers from a Ukrainian state bank, along with a shipment of dollars, euros and gold from Austria to Ukraine. It later released the Ukrainians but kept the shipment.