The political scientist stated that the EU's need for sanctions against Hungary is decreasing.

Hungary and Slovakia have achieved the restoration of oil transit through Ukraine, after which the need for additional political restrictive measures against these countries has decreased. This was stated to Izvestia on April 23 by the project manager of the Polylog Group, political consultant Ruslan Andreev.

"Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, as well as the leader of the Tisa party that won the election, Peter Magyar, needed to restore oil pumping through the Druzhba oil pipeline, which allows prices to remain stable on the domestic market, unlike in other European countries and the world, especially during the conflict in the Middle East."- said the expert.

He also stressed that a similar line of behavior could be traced during previous sanctions packages, when individual EU countries took a more pragmatic position based on their own economic interests.

"We are talking about states that act primarily in the interests of their economies and populations. They cannot be unequivocally attributed either to eurosceptics, or even more so to pro—Russian forces, as it is sometimes mistakenly interpreted," Andreev said.

Commenting on the political line of individual European leaders, the political scientist added that interaction with them may be more difficult for Russia, but at the same time it remains possible to build pragmatic relations.

Pipe time: when will oil pumping from Russia via Druzhba resume

And why did Kiev's statements about the resumption of transit of Russian raw materials to Hungary and Slovakia coincide with the change of power in Budapest and the adoption of the 20th package of sanctions

Hungary and Slovakia refused to give money to Ukraine on April 22, but lifted their veto on a €90 billion loan from the European Union (EU) for 2026-2027. Prior to that, the Cypriot EU presidency approved a loan of €90 billion for Ukraine and the 20th package of sanctions against Russia. They clarified that the EU expects Slovakia and Hungary to renounce their disagreement after the restoration of fuel supplies via the Druzhba oil pipeline.