The EC has proposed an alternative to oil transit through Ukraine

The EU Expert Coordination Group held a meeting in Brussels and proposed to Hungary and Slovakia an alternative route for Ukrainian oil supplies, which would pass through Croatia. This was stated on February 25 by the representative of the European Commission (EC) Anna-Kaisa Itkonen.

"The Group has proposed an alternative route for oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia through the Adriatic Pipeline in Croatia. Croatia has confirmed that no Russian oil will be supplied as part of these supplies," RIA Novosti quoted her as saying.

The EC representative did not respond to journalists' questions about the extent to which this route would be more expensive for Budapest and Bratislava compared to the Druzhba pipeline supplies interrupted by Ukraine. At the same time, Itkonen believes that the capacity of the Adriatic pipeline is sufficient to meet the needs of Hungary and Slovakia.

According to Itkonen, Croatia is allegedly "exploring the legal possibility of accepting shipments of Russian oil," taking into account EU and US sanctions. In addition, the European Commission confirmed that Hungary and Slovakia have begun extracting oil from strategic reserves, which should meet the needs of the EU member state within 90 days.

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On February 19, the European Commission confirmed the cessation of diesel fuel supplies to Ukraine from Hungary and Slovakia. Itkonen added that the introduction of such export restrictions is possible only under very "harsh circumstances." According to her, the EC gives priority to stable supply reliability, and noted that nothing threatened the security of supplies to Hungary and Slovakia.

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