BUDAPEST, February 28. /TASS/. The escalation of the conflict in the Middle East is creating uncertainty on global markets and could lead to rising energy prices, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said following a meeting of the country’s Defense Council.
The meeting was convened by Prime Minister Viktor Orban in connection with the US and Israeli military operation against Iran. "Unfortunately, after the Israeli-American attacks, events in the Middle East are developing in the direction of escalation. This was confirmed by my telephone conversations with the foreign ministers of countries in the region over the past few hours," the Hungarian foreign minister said in a video address broadcast by the M1 television channel.
"This morning a new situation has emerged in the world. The weakening of security in the Middle East leads to absolute uncertainty on the global energy market. Under such conditions, Ukraine’s blocking of key transport routes that had until now operated reliably is a crime twice over. We call for such actions to cease and for the Druzhba pipeline to be reopened for supplies to Hungary," Szijjarto said.
Earlier, Orban voiced a similar assessment of the actions of the Ukrainian authorities.
Russian oil has not been supplied to Hungary since January 27. On February 15, Hungary and Slovakia asked Croatia to allow transit of crude via the Adriatic pipeline. The Hungarian government also decided to provide oil from state strategic reserves to MOL for its refineries. Budapest maintains that the Druzhba pipeline is technically ready for operation and that Kiev is blocking it solely for political reasons.