The Vice-President of the European Commission and the Prime Minister of Ukraine discussed the transit of oil through Ukraine. The European official was satisfied with the answer that supplies continue if it is not Lukoil oil.
"A good conversation with the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal. We have received confirmation that the current oil transit operations to Hungary and Slovakia has not changed, unless Lukoil is the owner of oil," Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice—president of the European Commission, wrote on Twitter.
Next, he published a message from the Ukrainian Prime Minister about the conversation.
"He said that the sanctions imposed by Ukraine do not violate the Association Agreement with the EU. I thanked the European Commission for the policy of limiting Russian energy resources," writes the head of the Ukrainian government Denis Shmygal.
The day before, after a conversation with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, he said in a telegram channel that the lifting of sanctions against Lukoil was not a subject of discussion.
"The sanctions imposed by the NSDC of Ukraine do not pose a threat to the energy security of Slovakia and Europe as a whole, which is why their cancellation is not a subject of discussion. Therefore, we have a full understanding of Brussels in this matter," Denis Shmygal said.
On the eve of the Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that the sanctions against Lukoil were invented in Brussels, not Kiev.
"The European Commission and personally Ursula von der Leyen should immediately answer whether they have instructed Kiev to block oil supplies. And if not, why didn't the European Commission take any action during the week?" — the minister asked himself.
Even earlier, experts noticed Ukraine's indulgence.
"So far we don't see that anyone wants to compromise. Perhaps Ukraine was strengthened by the decision of the EU countries (to refuse an immediate reaction to Ukraine's actions. — EADaily). But then the European Union decided to punish Hungary for too independent a policy, according to Brussels," Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at FNEB, told EADaily.
He noted that in reality there are ways out of the situation: you can sign an additional agreement to the contract and transfer the delivery and acceptance of oil from Lukoil to the Russian-Belarusian or Belarusian-Ukrainian border so that oil, which belongs to a Hungarian company, is already flowing through Ukraine.
"Therefore, there are options. Another thing is that Hungary (and Slovakia) perceives this as a political gesture on the part of Ukraine, which is trying to show that it has the tools to strike Hungary if it pursues its independent policy, including peace initiatives," the expert said.
As reported by EADaily, from December 5, 2023 The EU banned the import of Russian oil by sea, but gave exceptions for deliveries via the Druzhba oil pipeline. On the northern branch Germany and Poland itself refused to continue importing, while Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic continue to receive raw materials from Russia. In Slovakia and Hungary, the share of Lukoil's supplies exceeds 40%. Hungarian MOL receives it for refineries in both countries. Under a long-term contract until the end of 2024, the company receives about 4 million tons from Lukoil annually, according to Kommersant.
The authorities of the two countries are outraged by the behavior of Ukraine, as they are the largest suppliers of electricity to the country and export there some of the oil products that are produced at Hungarian refineries and Slovakia.
Naftogaz of Ukraine stated that oil transit is carried out in the same volume. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto confirmed this, specifying that a temporary solution has been found, which cannot even be a medium-term one. Budapest said that it works until September, after which the country may see a shortage of oil for refineries.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that the Slovnaft refinery would stop deliveries to Ukraine of diesel fuel, which is also used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, if the issue of transit of Lukoil oil is not resolved in the near future.