BUDAPEST, September 5. /TASS/. Budapest openly purchases Russian oil while many European countries do it via indirect routes due to low prices, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
"Hungary buys Russian oil openly because we have no other choice, while some European countries buy it clandestinely, via indirect routes because this is cheaper for them," State Secretary for International Communication and Relations at the prime minister’s office Zoltan Kovacs quoted him as saying on his X page.
The top Hungarian diplomat slammed the position of those who "are loudly criticizing Hungary and Slovakia while importing this oil [from Russia] via Asia" as hypocritical. He recalled that the European Union had turned down Hungary’s request for expanding the capacity of pipelines in Southeastern Europe while Croatia had raised transit tariffs five-fold.
Following Ukrainian drone and missile strikes on the Druzhba oil pipeline infrastructure in Russia on August 4 and 22, oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia were suspended until repairs were carried out. Budapest and Bratislava demanded Kiev halt such attacks and reminded the European Commission of its commitment to ensure EU countries’ energy security. On August 22, they refereed a relevant letter to Brussels. Oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia from Russia resumed on August 28.