The Hungarian government has sent a group to Ukraine to check on the Druzhba oil pipeline, which has been broken since a Russian drone attack in late January. This is part of a growing conflict between Budapest and Kyiv that has reached the European level.
The mission, which includes Gábor Czepeka, a deputy minister at Hungary’s Ministry of Energy, and a team of oil industry experts, comes after months of disagreement between Hungary and Slovakia (the two remaining importers of Russian crude via the pipeline) and Ukraine, which controls the transit infrastructure on its territory.”Keeping the Druzhba pipeline open is important for Hungary because of its strategic location in the eastern pipeline network,” Czepeka remarked before going into Ukraine.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Ukraine strongly opposed the visit, saying that the group had no official mandate and that Kyiv had no plans to meet with them. “On the territory of Ukraine, this group of individuals has no official status and no scheduled official meetings it is therefore wholly incorrect to describe them as a ‘delegation’,” the ministry said in a statement. “People from other countries who respect Ukraine and follow the rules for entering, even for tourism, can stay in Ukraine.
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