Fico seeks to send expert group to Ukraine to inspect Druzhba oil pipeline
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced his intention to dispatch an expert group to the site of damage to the Druzhba oil pipeline on the territory of Ukraine.
This was reported by the press service of the Slovak government, Censor.NET informs.
Fico wants to send experts to Ukraine
It is reported that Fico contacted Slovakia’s ambassador to Ukraine regarding details of the disruption of supplies via the Druzhba oil pipeline.
The Slovak prime minister stated that Ukraine has allegedly so far provided no information regarding the incident, therefore the country’s ambassador sent an official note to Ukrainian representatives requesting clarification of the incident.
In addition, Fico proposed that the Slovak ambassador visit Brody together with a group of experts in order to see the damage "with their own eyes."
"We will also appeal to the European Commission to send a monitoring group to see what actually happened in Brody, because if this is political blackmail, as in the case of gas, then this is absolutely unacceptable," the head of the Slovak government stated.
Background
The transportation of Russian crude oil via the Druzhba pipeline through Ukraine has been halted since the end of January due to large-scale Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that due to transit issues via the Druzhba pipeline, the country would have to use strategic oil reserves and placed the responsibility on Ukraine.
- Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico noted that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is "playing with Slovakia's support for Ukraine's EU accession" and threatened to halt electricity supplies despite the critical situation in the country's energy system.
