Hungary and Slovakia to inspect Druzhba pipeline: want to create investigative commission
The prime ministers of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, and Slovakia, Robert Fico, announced the creation of a joint commission to study the situation with the Druzhba oil pipeline and appealed to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
According to Censor.NET, Orbán announced this in a video posted on his Facebook page.
Orbán stated that Zelenskyy and his team allegedly explain the impossibility of resuming the operation of the oil pipeline by technical obstacles, which, according to him, poses a threat to the energy security of Hungary and Slovakia.
Orbán stressed that, according to information from Budapest and Bratislava, there are no technical obstacles, and the pipeline has been closed "solely for political reasons."
In this regard, he announced an agreement with Slovak Prime Minister Fico to establish a joint investigative commission. Its task will be to visit the site to assess the actual state of the infrastructure and determine the reasons for the transit stoppage.
Orbán also called on Zelenskyy to allow the commission members to enter Ukraine and to ensure appropriate conditions for conducting the inspection.
What preceded it?
- On January 27, Russian occupation forces struck a critical infrastructure facility belonging to the Naftogaz group in western Ukraine. The target of the attack was likely Ukraine's largest oil pumping station, located in Brody, which supplies the southern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline.
- The prime ministers of Hungary and Slovakia, Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico, accused Ukraine of delaying the restoration of the oil pipeline due to "political motives," and on February 18, the authorities of these two countries announced the suspension of oil exports to Ukraine in response to Ukraine's halt of Russian oil transit.
- In addition, Fico warned that Slovakia would also reconsider its support for Ukraine's European integration and could suspend electricity supplies.
- At the same time, Hungary received permission to import Russian oil via an alternative maritime route through Croatia with subsequent transportation via pipeline.
