Orbán: Ukraine has not reopened Friendship pipeline because they want to interfere in elections in favour of Tisza Party

“No oil, no money” – it was with these words that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán started his short Facebook video published on Tuesday afternoon, in which he reiterated that Hungary would not approve the 90-billion-euro European Union loan intended for Ukraine until the neighbouring country allows crude oil from Russia to flow through the Friendship pipeline.

Orbán again explained that, in his view, the reason Ukraine has not yet reopened the pipeline is because they want to interfere in the Hungarian elections in the interest of the Tisza Party. He continued by mentioning that he had discussed Hungary’s position with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and the President of the European Council. Viktor Orbán also noted that the Ukrainians had refused to receive the Hungarian delegation of experts who had been tasked with assessing the condition of the damaged section of the Friendship pipeline and the possibility of restarting it.

The Hungarian Prime Minister's video was released shortly after it became known that the European Union had offered Ukraine technical support and financial assistance to repair the Friendship oil pipeline, which Ukraine accepted. Volodymyr Zelenskyy had written a letter to the European Commission and the Council, stating that despite “Russia’s continuous missile and drone strikes,” they are working continuously to restore the pipeline and the surrounding infrastructure so that they can fulfill their commitments to the EU.

As Zelenskyy put it, Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure occurred regularly throughout the winter, and they had been working continuously to repair the damage so that supplies to Europe would not be interrupted. “The current damage is more severe because the main oil pipeline operates as a single continuous system, and a complete shutdown of the key pumping station disrupts it".