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Hungary to ruin oil blockade from Ukraine — Orban

Hungary will not vote in favor of any Brussels decisions benefiting Ukraine until Vladimir Zelensky reconsiders, the Hungarian prime minister said

BUDAPEST, February 24. /TASS/. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has described Ukraine’s attempt to cut off his country’s access to Russian oil as an oil blockade and pledged that the attempt would fail. He also confirmed that Budapest would not allow aid to Kiev from Brussels until the Ukrainian authorities restore oil transit through the Druzhba pipeline.

"We will not help Ukraine in the oil blockade, we will foil it. Brussels and Kiev may be sure of that," he wrote on his Facebook page (Facebook is banned in Russia due to its ownership by Meta, which has been designated as extremist).

"The Ukrainians know perfectly well what they are doing," Orban noted. "They want fuel shortages in Hungary and the price of gasoline rising to 1,000 forints (over 2.5 euros) several weeks before the election. They are doing it to overthrow our government and replace it with their Kiev-loyal appointee," he explained.

"This won’t work. We have replenished our reserves and saved the country from fuel shortages. We have stopped provision of Ukrainians with an EU military loan worth 90 bln euros, and we will not vote in favor of any Brussels decisions benefiting Ukraine until President Zelensky reconsiders," the premier stressed.

According to Hungary’s information, oil has not been flowing via the Druzhba pipeline since January 27. On February 15, Hungary and Slovakia asked Croatia to allow the transit of Russian crude through the Adriatic pipeline. It is planned to be delivered to the Croatian port of Omisalj by sea. The Hungarian government has also decided to provide 250,000 tons of oil from state strategic reserves to MOL company for its refineries. The reserves there will suffice for three months.

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