Hungary threatens to block EU funds for member states until Kyiv allows Lukoil deliveries to resume

Hungary will block the payment of €6.5 billion refunds from the European Peace Facility for member states that have sent weapons to Ukraine until Kyiv allows Lukoil to resume uninterrupted oil deliveries. Among other things, this is what Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said on ATV News on Tuesday.

Szijjártó said that the Ukrainians were " jeopardising" the energy supply of Hungary and Slovakia, as 33 percent of Hungary's oil imports come from Russia's Lukoil via Ukraine and in Slovakia's case this is 40-45 percent. He said the European Commission is in a difficult position because "Ukraine is literally violating an agreement it had previously made with it".

"I have also made it clear that as long as this issue is not resolved by Ukraine, everyone should forget about the €6.5 billion of the European Peace Facility (EPF) compensation for arms transfers being paid out", because it would be strange if we were to consent to paying out the €6.5 billion while Ukraine is endangering the security of our energy supply," the Foreign Minister said.

It was revealed last week that Lukoil is currently not delivering oil to Hungary via Ukraine, i.e. the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline, but they are looking for a legal solution to restart transit (It is important to stress that although some in the Hungarian press have interpreted this as meaning that the Friendship pipeline has been shut down and no Russian oil is coming at all, this is not the case. Russian oil is still coming to Hungary, only not from Lukoil, but from Rosneft, for example.) Ukraine introduced stricter sanctions against Lukoil in June, effectively banning the company from using the country as a transit route or carrying out activities of any kind on its territory.