There is no technical obstacle for the reopening of the Druzhba pipeline, the head of the Hungarian government office Gergely Gulyás declared on Thursday. According to him, EU diplomacy chief Kaja Kallas said that Hungary and the Slovak Republic “should send soldiers to Ukraine instead of experts”. writes TASR based on a report by the MTI agency.
Gulyás claims that the Ukrainian leadership is “knowingly endangering Hungarian energy security, while there is clear and unambiguous data that the pipeline has not suffered any damage justifying its closure.” “And furthermore, his starting point in Tatarstan is currently under Ukrainian attack,” he added.
According to the head of the Hungarian government office, Ukraine’s energy security is also at risk because the refinery in Százhalombatta “can only process Russian or mostly Russian, Ural oil”. “Hungary cannot refine oil bought elsewhere,” he added.
Despite several requests, Ukraine does not want to allow Hungarian and Slovak experts to come and see the state of the Druzhba pipeline, Gulyás claims. According to him, this is proof that there is no technical obstacle for the relaunch of Druzhba.
On Wednesday, the Hungarian government ordered to strengthen the protection of the energy infrastructure by deploying the police and the army. In the Sabolch-Satmársko-Berež county near the border with Ukraine, it has banned drones from using the airspace there.
