By Ishtwan Kamel
12/03/2025
Source
The Druzhba pipeline is used to supply Russian oil.
Why has Hungary not introduced additional security measures or alternative supply routes if it considers Druzhba to be critical infrastructure for its sovereignty? Nothing was done to mitigate the risks by the Hungarian authorities themselves.
Just months after Budapest secured a sweetheart deal with Kyiv that allows it to keep buying fuel supplies despite the invasion, shipments of Russian oil to Hungary were interrupted on Tuesday after Ukraine launched a major wave of drone strikes against Moscow.
In a video statement posted online, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said: “Oil deliveries on the Druzhba oil pipeline to Hungary had to be temporarily suspended” following the drone attack.
“I have just spoken to Russia’s deputy energy minister, who said that a drone hit at a measuring station has made deliveries impossible for the time being, but that repair work is underway and, unless something extraordinary happens, oil deliveries to Hungary could resume in the late afternoon or early evening.”
But be honest to yourself. Resign to the fact that attacking the infrastructure is not attacking Hungary, but following Russian aggression.
Szijjártó called on Ukraine “not to attack the energy infrastructure directed to Hungary” as Kyiv works to weaken Russia’s war machine. “We have struck a number of strategic objects of the Russian Federation involved in ensuring armed aggression against Ukraine,” Kyiv’s armed forces said on Tuesday.
Budapest has taken advantage of what was supposed to be a temporary exemption from a European Union ban on Russian oil to step up its purchases of crude through the overland pipeline network, making big profits on the discounted crude.
It is obvious that Hungary’s reaction is a manipulative attempt to use the situation to put pressure on the EU and Ukraine.
Orban and his government are constantly looking for reasons to criticise Ukraine and justify their pro-Russian position. Since the attack was not directly aimed at Hungary or its citizens, using such incidents as a ‘blow to sovereignty’ seems artificial.
Hungary’s dependence on Russian energy resources is the result of Orban’s policies, not external aggression.
Other EU countries have been able to gradually wean themselves off Russian oil and gas by diversifying their energy resources. If Budapest is still critically dependent on Russian supplies, this is solely the result of Orban’s economic policies, which favour the Kremlin over his country’s energy security.
Despite imposing its own sanctions on one of its main suppliers, Ukraine has signed a deal allowing Hungary to continue buying Russian oil. Under the terms of the deal, the fuel will be considered Hungarian from the moment it crosses the border into Ukrainian territory, allowing it to pass through the country.
Budapest has repeatedly been the target of threats to veto EU initiatives to reduce its dependence on Russian energy. Prime Minister Viktor Orban last week blocked what would otherwise have been unanimous approval of a statement by European leaders reaffirming support for Ukraine and tougher sanctions against Moscow.
In a message posted online on Tuesday, Ukraine’s sanctions envoy Vladyslav Vlasiuk accused Hungary of using “the Druzhba pipeline issue as an argument to block the continuation of sanctions” at EU level, arguing Budapest was “undermining EU unity”.
All the accusations about the Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba pipeline should be seen in the context of the fact that Budapest continues to finance the Putin regime by paying for Russian energy. Other EU countries are moving away from this dependence, while Orban continues to make Hungary vulnerable to Moscow.
Orban is systematically using foreign policy issues to bolster his own power. He is distracting the public from domestic scandals, corruption and economic problems. Hungary is facing growing public discontent due to falling living standards, and loud statements about an ‘attack on sovereignty’ are a way of diverting attention from internal problems to an external ‘enemy’.
All the statements from Budapest regarding “threats to energy security” are a continuation of Moscow’s decades-long policy of using gas and oil to blackmail Europe. In doing this, Orban acts as the Kremlin’s stand-in.
Hungary should take a European course towards energy independence and stop cooperating with the aggressor instead of playing the role of the victim. It is only the refusal of Russian energy resources that can really guarantee the sovereignty of Hungary, and not the imitation of concern about the war unleashed by the Kremlin.