Ukraine said it is ready to address oil transit problems with Slovakia

Ukraine guarantees uninterrupted oil transit for companies that are not subject to sanctions and is ready to address transit-related problems with Slovakia. Deputy Ukrainian Energy Minister Roman Andarak said this yesterday, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó wrote that the suspension of oil supplies may have been orchestrated by the European Commission, according to the AP.

Ukraine recently halted the transit of oil from Russian company Lukoil through the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia and Hungary after adding the company to its sanctions list in June.

Hungary and Slovakia subsequently called on the European Commission (EC) to address Ukraine’s decision concerning the transit of Lukoil oil. According to Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár, Kyiv violated the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union with its move.

“The Ukrainian side is ready to address any problematic issues at expert level—if the Slovak side activates the relevant mechanism set out in the Association Agreement. It has not done so to date,” Andarak said today.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó complained on Facebook that the EC had taken no action even a week after Slovakia and Hungary made their request. “Despite the threat to the energy security of two EU member states… Brussels remains silent,” he wrote, adding that either the Commission was too weak to protect the interests of Slovakia and Hungary, or “it was Brussels, not Kyiv, that devised the whole thing.” Hungary’s top diplomat repeated Budapest’s earlier claim that blocking the transit of Lukoil oil through Ukraine was blackmail in response to Hungary’s push for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

A number of EU and NATO officials have criticised Budapest’s stance as a strategy of making concessions to Russia despite its aggression. National-conservative Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is widely regarded as having the warmest ties with the Kremlin of any European Union leader. Orbán regularly delays, weakens or blocks efforts to send financial aid to Kyiv and impose sanctions on Moscow over the war, the AP noted.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico criticised Kyiv’s move in recent days, saying Slovakia did not intend to be held hostage to Ukrainian-Russian relations. On Monday, Fico threatened that Slovak refinery Slovnaft would stop supplying diesel to Ukraine if the transit of Russian oil through Ukraine was not resumed soon. The Slovak prime minister has long criticised sanctions intended to pressure Russia into withdrawing its troops from Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022.