Novak called "Friendship" the most efficient energy supply route to the EU

The Druzhba pipeline remains the most efficient infrastructure for energy supplies to Europe and should be fully utilized in normal relations. This was announced to journalists on April 22 by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak.

"In general, this infrastructure, in our opinion, is the most efficient in general for the supply of energy resources to Europe. And, of course, in normal relationships, it should be used in full. And this is beneficial for both suppliers and consumers," TASS quoted Novak as saying.

The Deputy Prime Minister noted that the pipeline is currently not fully loaded due to the decisions of European consumers. According to him, this was not Russia's fault.

"European countries have abandoned Russian oil, and now Druzhba is not fully operational," he said.

Among such countries, he named Germany and Poland, as well as a number of other states.

On the same day, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced the blocking of EU sanctions against Russia without resuming the work of Druzhba. According to him, trust has been violated between Slovakia and Ukraine. Fico does not rule out that the Kiev authorities may stop the pipeline again.

On April 22, Minister of Economy of Slovakia Denisa Sakova announced that the Druzhba oil pipeline would resume operation in the republic on the morning of April 23. The minister noted that on Wednesday morning, the Ukrainian side began filling the Druzhba oil pipeline from Belarus.