BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Ukraine’s decision to halt the transit of oil from Russia’s Lukoil threatens the long-term security of supply for Slovakia and Hungary, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a news briefing on Friday.
Slovakia and Hungary said on Wednesday they had stopped receiving oil from Lukoil after Ukraine imposed a ban on the transit of oil from the company last month.
“We have been able to stabilise the situation with temporary solutions, but these will not be enough even for the near future,” Szijjarto said.
“Ukrainian authorities showed willingness to find a solution to the situation, but these attempts have faded since,” he added.
Russia continues to supply natural gas and oil to landlocked Hungary and Slovakia via Ukraine despite the war, through the Druzhba pipeline’s southern spur.
Ukraine’s ban does not affect other Russian oil exporters whose oil was still allowed through Ukraine, Slovakian oil transporter Transpetrol said on Thursday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Lukoil’s disrupted oil transit via Ukraine a “crisis” for buyers, but said there was little scope for talks with the Ukrainian transit firms as the decision had been political.
(Reporting by Boldizsar Gyori; editing by Alan Charlish and Jason Neely)
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