Hungary announced pressure on the country to switch to non-Russian oil

Croatia, by delaying the transit of Russian oil through the Adriatic pipeline, is forcing Hungary to look for alternative sources of energy resources, but Budapest is not satisfied with the change of supplier. This was stated by political analyst of the Hungarian foundation Szazadveg Zoltan Kiselli.

"The Croatian government <... It delays the transit of Russian oil coming by sea through the Adriatic pipeline, where transit fees are three to four times higher than the European average, citing secondary US sanctions," he told RIA Novosti.

According to Kiselli, Zagreb is trying to redirect refineries in Slovakia and Hungary to other types of oil. According to the analyst, this is part of the EU's efforts to completely abandon Russian energy sources by 2027.

However, for Hungary, abandoning Russian energy resources is unacceptable, since Budapest continues to insist on importing Russian energy resources and has received exceptions for this from the EU and the United States, the expert noted.

Kiselli also stressed that the alternative route of oil supplies proposed by the Ukrainians through the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline carries additional risks for Hungary related to the Ukrainian political situation, as well as possible attacks on infrastructure.

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European Commission (EC) representative Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said on February 25 that at a meeting in Brussels, the EU group recommended that Hungary and Slovakia use the Croatian route to replace oil previously supplied via the Ukrainian Druzhba branch. She declined to specify how much the costs of Budapest and Bratislava would increase, but assured that Croatia's capacities would fully cover their needs.

On February 24, EC President Ursula von der Leyen called on Kiev to accelerate the resumption of Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia. The day before, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that the cessation of oil supplies from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline was the result of deliberate collusion between Kiev and the leadership of the European Union.

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