Hungary’s foreign minister said on Saturday the European Commission’s decision not to mediate in a dispute over a blockage of oil supplies from Russia via Ukraine into his country suggested that Brussels was behind the stoppage.

Hungary and its neighbour Slovakia have been protesting since Ukraine put Russian oil producer Lukoil on a sanctions list in June, stopping that company’s oil from passing through Ukrainian territory to Slovak and Hungarian refineries.

The assertion from Hungary’s Peter Szijjarto, which he made without providing evidence, came a day after the European Commission declined a request from Hungary and Slovakia for it to mediate between them and Ukraine over the sanctions.

[Edit: I deleted a ‘Opens New Tab’ link]

  • @talEnglish
    19•19 days ago

    doesn’t do shit for years

    Strictly-speaking, it didn’t do nothing. After the invasion, it increased purchases from Russia:

    https://www.politico.eu/article/youve-had-two-years-eu-eyerolls-at-hungarys-russian-oil-request/

    “Many EU members took costly but necessary efforts to get rid from dependence on Russian gas and oil … mainly because it stinks of blood,” said one EU diplomat, who like others for this story was granted anonymity to speak candidly.

    Following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the EU imposed an embargo on imports of Russian oil — a key lifeline that remains one of the primary sources of revenue for the Kremlin’s war effort.

    But it exempted pipeline supplies — including those coming to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic via the Druzhba pipeline — to give those countries time to find alternative supplies, with the understanding they would do so rapidly.

    Germany and Poland, who also imported supplies from Druzhba, stopped buying Russia’s crude last year. The Czech Republic aims to end its imports from Moscow by 2025, while Slovakia too has begun upgrading its primary refinery to process more non-Russian crude.

    But Hungary chose to go the other way, instead ramping up oil imports via the pipeline by 50 percent compared to 2021. Budapest also inked new deals with Russian gas giant Gazprom.

    Ditto for natural gas:

    https://www.politico.eu/article/hungary-signs-deal-with-gazprom-over-additional-gas/

    Hungary signs new gas deal with Gazprom

    August 31, 2022

    Hungary signed a deal with Russia for additional gas supplies, government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs said Wednesday.

    The agreement will send up to 5.8 million cubic meters of gas a day to Hungary “on top of the contract quantity already in force,” he said.

    And unlike some EU members, Hungary even has domestic sources of oil, which reduces the degree to which they need to source oil externally:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algyő_oil_field

    The Algyő oil field is an oil field located in Algyő, Csongrád County, in Hungary. It was discovered in 1965 and developed by MOL Group. It began production in 1965 and produces oil. The total proven reserves of the Algyő oil field are approximately 629 million barrels (84×106tonnes). It provides nearly half of Hungary’s crude oil.