Hungary’s Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has announced that his country is prohibiting the commander of the Ukrainian military unit responsible for the “latest attack” on Russia’s Druzhba oil pipeline from entering Hungary.
Source: European Pravda, citing Szijjártó in a video on Facebook
Details: Szijjártó said that Ukraine has recently conducted several attacks on Russia’s Druzhba pipeline, a facility he described as “vital for Hungary’s secure energy supply”.
“Without the Druzhba pipeline, it is impossible to supply Hungary with crude oil. Ukraine is well aware of this. Ukraine knows that the Druzhba pipeline is critical for Hungary’s energy security,” he said.
Szijjártó accused Ukraine of carrying out attacks that “primarily harm Hungary, and, of course, Slovakia, rather than Russia”.
“The latest attack on the Druzhba pipeline was extremely serious. It was so serious that repair works lasted so long that we almost had to use our strategic or emergency reserves,” he added.
The Hungarian foreign minister emphasised that Budapest considers every attack on energy security as “an attack on sovereignty”.
“And, of course, no attack on our sovereignty can go without consequences,” he warned.
Szijjártó said his country had therefore decided “to ban the commander of the military unit responsible for the recent extremely serious attacks on the Druzhba pipeline from entering Hungary and the entire Schengen area”.
“This Ukrainian citizen will not be allowed to enter Hungary or the Schengen zone for the next few years,” he stated.
Szijjártó also said that his country will “continue to protect its national interests, safeguard its energy security and defend its sovereignty”.
“Anyone who attacks our energy security or our sovereignty should expect consequences. The same applies in this case. We are therefore banning the commander of the Ukrainian military unit responsible for this extremely serious attack on the Druzhba pipeline from entering Hungary and the Schengen area,” he concluded.
Background:
On the night of 27-28 August, Russian authorities reported that drones had attacked several Russian regions, while local residents reported fires at two oil refineries and a railway hub.Notably, these strikes on Russian oil refineries have been reported by Robert “Magyar” Brovdi, Commander of Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces, who is of ethnic Hungarian descent.He accompanied his post with the 1956 Hungarian resistance slogan: “Ruszkik haza, mofo!” (Russians, go home, fools!).Previous attacks on the Druzhba pipeline have sparked a public spat between the Ukrainian and Hungarian foreign ministers.On 24 August, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed European Pravda’s account linking the strikes on the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies oil to Hungary, to the Ukrainian-Hungarian dialogue, where the main issue is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s veto in the context of Ukraine’s EU accession preparations.
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