BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán warned Friday that his administration may implement additional measures targeting Ukraine to force the restart of Russian oil shipments that have been halted to Hungary and Slovakia since the beginning of the year.
During a media briefing in Brussels following his decision to obstruct a 90-billion euro ($104-billion) European Union aid package for Ukraine, Orbán declared that his administration possesses “a lot of cards in our hands” beyond preventing the financial assistance that Kyiv requires for military equipment and economic stability.
“We have other tools as well,” he stated. “Forty percent of Ukraine’s electricity supply goes through Hungary, we haven’t touched that yet. (The EU) constantly wants to introduce new sanctions (against Russia). That will require unanimity, and we will not give it.”
Relations between Hungary and Ukraine have deteriorated significantly in recent weeks, creating an intense dispute over Hungary’s ability to receive Russian oil via a pipeline running through Ukrainian land.
The flow of oil through the Druzhba pipeline was disrupted following what Ukraine described as Russian drone attacks that damaged pipeline facilities. Hungarian officials have blamed Ukraine for intentionally establishing an “oil blockade” to prevent Russian crude deliveries, and have vowed to oppose all EU assistance to Kyiv until the shipments restart.
Hungary and Slovakia, both governed by leaders who maintain friendly ties with the Kremlin, remain the sole EU nations still receiving Russian oil imports.
In a bid to convince Orbán to remove his opposition to the loan, EU representatives announced Tuesday that the bloc had provided Ukraine with technical assistance and funding to fix the pipeline, which Kyiv has agreed to accept.
On Friday, Orbán also warned he would reject the EU’s upcoming seven-year budget if it contains aid for Ukraine, stating: “We have a lot of cards in our hands, so I don’t think it’s worth picking a fight with Hungary.”
European Union leaders criticized Orbán Thursday for his obstruction of Ukrainian aid, claiming he is blocking essential assistance and weakening EU decision-making processes to gain electoral advantage domestically.
With Orbán confronting what analysts predict will be his most competitive election on April 12, he has intensified an anti-Ukraine strategy that depicts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a fundamental danger to Hungary.
He has claimed that the Ukrainian president, together with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, seeks to pull Hungary into Russia’s conflict, now in its fifth year, and has maintained that his re-election represents the sole path to peace and stability.
