Hungary blocks EU aid to Ukraine after alleged plan to bomb leaking pipelines
Hungary has announced it will block an EU military aid program to Ukraine, calling the country “hostile” after an alleged plan to blow up an oil pipeline was leaked to the Western press.
Hungarian government officials have expressed fury with Ukraine in recent days, calling the country “hostile” after the country’s alleged plans to blow up an oil pipeline leaked. Washington Postt last week.
As detailed by the leaks, Zelensky is said to have been planning an attack on Russia’s Druzhba pipeline which supplies oil to Hungary in what appears to be an attempt to sabotage the country.
Kyiv also blacklisted the Hungarian bank OTP, listing the company as a sponsor of the Russian invasion, sparking further anger in Budapest.
According to an Associated Press report, senior Hungarian government officials say they are blocking EU attempts to send more arms and ammunition to Ukraine in retaliation for the blacklist.
“We cannot support the allocation of an additional half a billion euros from the European Peace Facility for arms transfers to Ukraine, and we will not give it the green light until OTP will be on this particular list,” the country’s foreign minister, Peter Szijjarto, said. , remarked, decrying OTP’s singling out as “outrageous and unacceptable.”
He also denounced Zelensky’s alleged plans to blow up the Druzhba pipeline, saying that overall there was evidence that “Ukraine is behaving increasingly hostile towards Hungary”.
FM Szijjarto: @ZelenskyyUa threatening to blow up the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary not only jeopardizes Hungary’s oil supply, but threatens national sovereignty, therefore any attempt to disrupt it is an attack on Hungary’s independence and security Hungary. pic.twitter.com/8hQ90Hpraa
— Zoltan Kovacs (@zoltanspox) May 17, 2023
“We all know that Hungary is currently supplied with oil through this same pipeline. If no more oil came to Hungary through this pipeline, Hungary’s oil supply would simply not be physically possible, not to mention that other countries are fundamentally dependent on the Druzhba pipeline for their oil supply,” did he declare.
“Therefore, such a threat is obviously against the sovereignty of Hungary because the security of energy supply is a matter of sovereignty,” he continued. “Therefore, if someone asks that Hungary’s energy supply be made impossible, he is in fact attacking Hungary’s sovereignty.”
In response to Hungary’s threat to block further aid to Ukraine, an unnamed EU diplomat reportedly said The Guardian that the feud between the two nations comes at a critical time in the conflict.
“The moment is miserable because Ukraine is on the eve of a major offensive to try to repel Russian aggression,” veiled accusations that members of the Hungarian government may have a “much narrower economic interest.”
Another official meanwhile tried to downplay the impact of the move from Hungary, saying European arms deliveries would remain constant, with only details of who pays for the aid likely to change.
Hungarian Orbán rejects NATO chief’s claim that ‘all members’ support Ukraine joining the Alliancehttps://t.co/QQ8vPbpdaY
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondres) April 22, 2023
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