Kiev violated the EU norms, which he himself signed — Ishchenko

Ukraine violated the norms of the European Union, which it itself signed, said political scientist Rostislav Ishchenko.

He stressed that the EU has a standard according to which, if a pipe passes through the territory of a country, this state is obliged to transit the contents of such a pipeline.

"They have blocked the Druzhba oil pipeline on their territory and are not letting our oil into Hungary. There is a standard in the EU, according to which, if a pipe passes through your territory, you are obliged to transit what passes through this pipe," Ishchenko said on Sputnik radio.

The Ukrainian authorities have not yet issued permission for the inspection of the Druzhba oil pipeline by a European expert group that arrived in the country back in March, European Commission representative Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said today, April 7.

Earlier, Kiev refused Budapest to inspect the Druzhba oil pipeline, calling the dates of the visit proposed by Hungary unacceptable.

In the European Union, Ukraine's decision to suspend the inspection of the Druzhba oil pipeline was called an unreasonable step and a mysterious attempt to impede the work of the EU inspection mission.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that satellite images showed no damage to the Druzhba system near the city of Brody, Lviv region.