No mercy from Ukraine: They insist on restricting Russian oil transport to Hungary, Slovakia – UPDATED

News broke in mid-July about an end-June Ukrainian decree banning Russian Lukoil from transporting crude oil using Ukrainian pipelines. Some experts said the step endangers supply in Hungary and Slovakia considerably. Ukraine says the opposite, and they cleared that in a harsh message to PM Robert Fico, claiming that the European Commission is on their side. Here’s the next episode of the Russian oil conflict.

No ‘mercy’ from Ukraine in Russian oil conflict

Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, shared the harsh reaction of the Ukrainian government on an alleged Slovakian ‘threat’ on Telegram. He suggested that those countries that would like to keep up Russian transport to Europe would support the aggressor, and that is unacceptable. Before, Bratislava said they would halt diesel export to Ukraine provided Kyiv does not abolish their Lukoil sanction.

Ukraine announced the ban on Lukoil in mid-July and added they would not like to support the Russian machine by letting through crude for a company that is one of the biggest supporters of Putin’s invasion.

Orbán and Zelensky in Kyiv. Photo: FB/Orbán

The Hungarian and Slovakian governments were outraged, saying that the unilateral Ukrainian decision endangers both countries’ oil and energy supply. Some experts like Ilona Gizińska, a senior analyst of the Centre for Eastern Studies, told Politico that Hungarians should calculate with skyrocketing fuel and energy prices, but experts say she was not right.

The European Commission supports Ukraine

G7.hu wrote that the ban on Lukoil’s transport does not mean there would be fewer molecules in the Ukrainian pipeline, coming to Hungary and Slovakia. It only means that Lukoil is unable to label its crude as Lukoil. However, another company can substitute it in Ukraine, as it probably already happened, and business may continue as usual. For example, Hungarian gas and oil giant MOL having refineries in Bratislava and Százhalombatta and processing Russian oil, has not even said a word concerning the issue.

The MOL Tower in Budapest. They process Russian oil. Photo: FB/MOL Campus

Meanwhile, concerning the government’s excess profit taxes, MOL CEO Zsolt Hernádi slammed the Orbán cabinet in an opinion article. “We pay more for nothing. Isn’t that familiar somehow? Just like in the Communism. Back to the future, gentlemen”, he concluded his article published in the government-close Mandiner.

That is why Ukraine says their step does not endanger Slovakia and Hungary. And that is why they replied so harshly and added that the European Commission supported them. Hungary and Slovakia have jointly initiated a consultation procedure with the European Union against Ukraine, but the European Commission did not back the plea.

Financial Times wrote that Brussels needed more time to collect evidence and analyse the situation. That means they would not interfere in favour of Budapest and Bratislava. Furthermore, the European Commission said the ban did not cause problems in Hungary and Slovakia’s supply.

Ukraine’s stoppage of crude deliveries likely recommended by Brussels, says the Orbán cabinet

Tamás Menczer, the communications director of the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrats, on Thursday said there was “a good chance” that the move to halt the transit of significant volumes of Russian crude oil to Hungary and Slovakia had been recommended to Ukraine by Brussels “or even [European Commission President] Ursula von der Leyen herself”. Menczer told public broadcaster Kossuth Rádió and news channel M1 that by stopping crude deliveries,

Ukraine was endangering Hungary’s and Slovakia’s energy security, which was in breach of its association agreement with the European Union.

He said the European Commission should take steps in the interest of protecting the member states impacted by the move and “safeguard” the implementation of the agreement, “yet nothing is happening”.

“We have to be increasingly firm in saying what we were saying at the beginning, which is that there’s a good chance that it was Brussels or [EC President] Ursula von der Leyen herself who had recommended to Ukraine that it should cut off oil deliveries,” Menczer said.

Blackmailing Ukraine?

He said Hungary would use every means possible to protect itself, “but it wouldn’t hurt if for once the commission acted in accordance with the regulations and in common sense, but it looks like we can’t count on this.”

Menczer said there were both legal and technical options for addressing the situation. Underlining that Hungary did not want to “blackmail Ukraine back”, he said it is a fact that a significant amount of the energy Ukraine uses is delivered to the country via Hungary.

Asked about the fine the European Court of Justice instructed Hungary to pay for refusing to implement several EU migration rules, Menczer said the timing of the fine was not coincidental, adding that Hungary’s commitment to peace could have been one of the reasons behind it.

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Featured image: depositphotos.com