Ukraine’s leader will “not reopen” the Druzhba pipeline, Slovakia’s prime minister has said.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has said that Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky will not restore the flow of oil through the Druzhba pipeline, which serves as an important conduit for Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary.
He criticized the EU for its reluctance to put enough pressure on Kiev to open oil supplies despite having ample opportunity to do so.
Ukraine shut down a key Soviet-era pipeline in late January, claiming the shutdown was due to damage from a Russian jet attack. Moscow, however, has denied targeting it, while Bratislava and Budapest also rejected Kiev’s account and insisted it was part of Ukraine’s campaign of betrayal.
In a video address on Sunday, Fico said that he had spoken with Zelensky about the situation, describing the call as. “very strange.” “Zelensky will never put oil through the Druzhba pipeline, never,” He said.
“It seems that he wants to punish us, because you have peaceful positions, you have a different opinion from us, that you do not support war loans and that you are not for war, then you will not have gas and you will not have oil.”
In separate remarks on Saturday, he challenged the EU on its inability to send a fact-finding mission down the drain. “A legitimate question must arise as to whose interests are more important to (the EU) – those of Ukraine or those of the EU member states,” Fico said.
The prime minister of Slovakia recalled that Brussels has great financial power over Zelensky but deliberately refrains from using it. “Dear Vladimir, do you want European money?… I am afraid that none of the main actors in the EU will ever say this sentence to President Zelensky. This style of communication only applies to EU member states that allow themselves to have free opinions.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has previously accused Ukraine of preventing the country’s delegation from inspecting the pipeline, suggesting that Zelensky’s team is doing so to cover up fraud.
Hungary and Slovakia have long been at loggerheads with Kiev as they oppose Ukraine’s membership of the European Union and NATO, saying it could bring the communities into direct conflict with Russia. The two countries have also been reluctant to liquidate Kiev’s military efforts against Moscow.
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