Hungary will use 'every means' in Ukraine oil dispute

BUDAPEST

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, left, speaks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels, June 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Omar Havana, File)

Hungary will use "every means" to resolve an escalating row with neighboring Ukraine over stalled Russian oil supplies to Budapest, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on March 6.

Hungary and Slovakia say Ukraine is deliberately delaying reopening the Druzhba pipeline pumping Russian oil to the two landlocked EU member states, which Kiev says was damaged by Russian strikes in January.

"We have stopped gasoline deliveries to Ukraine, we are not delivering diesel either, we are still delivering electricity, and we will also stop things passing through Hungary things that are important to Ukraine, until we receive Ukraine's approval for oil deliveries," Orban told state radio.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had earlier accused Hungary of taking "hostage" a group of Ukrainian bank employees who were reportedly transporting $40 million, and nine kilograms of gold through the country.

Hungary's relations with neighboring Ukraine, already strained by Orban's sustained political support for Russia and opposition to military aid for Kiev, deteriorated further after he ramped up political attacks on Ukraine ahead of a closely fought parliamentary election on April 12.

Orban has been stalling a 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) EU loan to the war-torn country and a new round of sanctions on Russia, demanding that Kiev reopen the pipeline first.

The nationalist leader has accused Ukraine of holding up Russian oil for political reasons, claiming the pipeline has not been damaged.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on March 5 that the pipeline can only be made operational after another four to six weeks.