2024-07-22 12:11:04
But Ukraine also seems to have other motives for the Lukoil sanctions beyond preventing Russian oil revenues. MP Sovsun told Politico that Kiev is trying to get Hungary to give up its opposition to arms deliveries to Ukraine. “We have really tried all diplomatic solutions and they have never worked,” she said. “So it seems that we have to find other ways to talk to them.”
Hungarian-Ukrainian relations recently escalated because Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán traveled to Moscow in early July to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Orbán declared the trip a “peace mission”. A few days later, he also visited China’s head of state Xi Jinping in Beijing and former US President Donald Trump in the United States. However, the first stop on his “peace mission” – before the Moscow visit – was Kyiv. The trips took place without coordination with the EU or the Ukrainian government.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj sharply criticized Orbán’s solo actions. “If someone wants to travel to the war capital to talk and maybe promise something at the expense of Ukraine, why should we pay attention to such a person?” Zelenskyj said at the summit of the European Political Community in Oxford on Thursday. Moscow is always interested in breaking the unity of the West through individual offers or even blackmail, he said.
Video | Orbán makes a surprise visit to Putin
Quelle: Glomex
Moscow accused Ukraine of making a “political decision”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the situation was “critical” for countries that continue to import Russian oil. However, according to Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó, Hungary is already working with Russia on a “solution”.
According to calculations by the Kyiv School of Economics, Russia earned around 180 billion dollars from its oil business last year. According to the Reuters news agency, which cites industry sources, around 1.1 million tons of oil were transported through the Druzhba pipeline each month, of which a total of just over 900,000 tons went to Slovakia and Hungary. The pipeline also supplies the Czech Republic.