BUDAPEST, March 15. /TASS/. Hungarian experts who had been in Kiev since March 11 were not allowed to inspect the Druzhba oil pipeline to determine whether it is operational.
Ukrainian authorities also refused them meetings at the Energy Ministry on the issue of resuming supplies of Russian oil, which Budapest believes are blocked on the orders of Vladimir Zelensky.
"We have returned. We crossed the border at 1:00 a.m. today," Hungarian Deputy Energy Minister Gabor Czepek, who headed the delegation, said in a video address broadcast by Hungarian TV channels.
However, as Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said earlier, the task set for the group of specialists was achieved. In Kiev, they held consultations with diplomats from European Union countries and the US and presented their position, which was received with understanding. In turn, this prompted the Ukrainian pipeline operator Ukrtransnafta to issue a self-incriminating statement confirming that the pipeline is blocked solely for political reasons.
Ukrainian officials, who hastily organized a briefing for foreign ambassadors in Kiev, claimed that restoring oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline would take another month, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said. According to him, they are setting that timeline to coincide with Hungary’s parliamentary elections scheduled for April 12. This way, Ukraine wants to maintain the oil blockade and undermine the position of the current government in order to help the opposition Tisza party, the foreign minister explained. According to Szijjarto, this once again proved the goals behind the oil blockade of Hungary by Ukraine.