Russian oil has stopped flowing in recent days to three European countries that depend on it significantly, while the Russians accuse Ukraine of stopping the flow through pipelines passing through its territory. The development worsens the current energy crisis in the European Union, and some of the affected countries are now trying to resolve the unfolding financial conflict between Russia and Ukraine over the transfer of oil, even at the cost of cracking the European front against Moscow.
These are Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic – three countries that do not have seaports and are dependent on Russian oil that arrives through the “Dru’zba” (Friendship) pipeline. The pipeline supplied about a quarter of a million barrels a day before the war in Ukraine, but since it broke out, the three countries have increased imports from Russia to about 320,000 barrels a day. The three countries received an exemption from the European Union’s common policy to gradually stop (by the end of the year) the purchase of Russian oil. Hungary has led political opposition to sweeping sanctions on Russian oil, and Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said he “will not let” EU policies “hurt the Hungarian economy.” Therefore, the countries continue to purchase oil from Russia, in a similar way as Germany and Italy continue to purchase natural gas from the country.
Ukraine returned the commission payment, and Russia stopped the flow of oil
Now it turns out, that as of last Thursday, oil in the Druzhba pipeline does not reach the three countries. Apparently, Ukraine, which receives a payment from Russia as a commission for the transfer of oil in a part of the pipeline located in its territory, has returned the last payments to Russia on the grounds that their acceptance is contrary to the financial sanctions imposed on the country. According to the reports, because it has returned the payments and is demanding that Russia make them in a different way, the authorities in Kiev stopped the further flow of oil. The Russian oil company “Transneft” claimed this in a statement published yesterday (Tuesday). The company said that it made the payments to Ukraine last July, as it did in the past and during the war, through “Gazprombank”, one of the Russian financial institutions exempted from the sanctions, but that the payment was returned.
In Hungary, the authorities clarified that the current reserves will be enough for “many weeks”, but also said that they are considering paying the transit fee directly to Ukraine, and “offsetting” the payment from the money they owe Russia for the oil. In practice, such a move will help Hungary to be part of a mechanism that bypasses financial sanctions, and will establish its position as one of the weakest links in the European front against Russia and Vladimir Putin. Commentators estimated that the reserves in the Czech Republic and Slovakia are much smaller and that if the situation “is not resolved within a few days” they will face a significant problem. In the Czech Republic, the Minister of Trade and Industry stated that “the coming days will prove whether it is technical payment problems or the worsening of the energy war on the part of Russia.”
Moscow also used the international sanctions imposed on it as a reason for reducing the flow of natural gas through the Nord Stream pipeline to Europe last month to only 20% of its capacity. Germany hopes that the supply of Siemens turbines, contrary to the existing sanctions, will re-increase the flow of gas for the coming winter.