Hungary has said it wants to quickly resume supplies of Russian oil to Lukoil via Ukraine.
Hungary asked the European Union to take action against Ukraine for introducing a partial ban on Russian oil exports. Budapest said the move would jeopardize its energy security. Politico wrote this on Monday, July 22.
Last month, Kyiv imposed sanctions blocking the transfer of pipeline oil to Central Europe sold by Moscow’s largest private oil company, Lukoil. This raised concerns in Budapest about a supply shortage, as Hungary gets 70% of its oil imports from Russia and Lukoil accounts for half of that.
“Ukraine’s decision fundamentally threatens the security of supply to Hungary. This is an unacceptable step on the part of Ukraine, a country that wants to become a member of the European Union, and such a decision creates a significant risk ,” said Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto at a meeting of EU representatives in Brussels.
According to Szijjártó, Kyiv has been “clearly violating” the EU’s Association Agreement with Ukraine since 2014. He added that Hungary and Slovakia, which are also affected by the ban, have started negotiations with the European Commission before legal action .
Hungary is seeking a so-called consultation, where the European Commission has three days to find a solution on behalf of the affected EU member states. If the EU executive fails, Hungary and Slovakia will face an arbitration court to rule on the issue.
Ukraine, in turn, argues that it is trying to suppress a major source of income for the Russian military coffers, which is running more than two years after a full-scale invasion. Moscow earned an estimated $180 billion from oil exports last year.
Slovakia, like Hungary, is highly dependent on Moscow for oil supplies, receiving about 2.5 million tons of fuel, equivalent to 45% of its imports.
According to Bloomberg, neither Hungary nor Slovakia will likely face fuel shortages, as alternative routes are available to them, including Croatia. However, it could jeopardize Hungary’s revenue from the Mol Nyrt tax, a tax on Russian oil revenues that was expanded earlier this month to plug fiscal loopholes. Mol has refineries in Hungary and Slovakia.
We remind you that on Monday Hungary again blocked the EU money for arms for Ukraine.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico criticized Kyiv’s decision to tighten sanctions against Lukoil.
Hungary and Slovakia are panicking over Ukraine’s ban on oil transit
New Correspondent.net on Telegram and WhatsApp. Subscribe to our channels Athletistic and WhatsApp
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.