Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjártó said that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry summoned the acting charge d'affaires of the Hungarian Embassy in Kyiv, Antal Heizer, and “admitted” that Ukraine “is keeping the Druzhba oil pipeline closed for political reasons.”
He stated this on his Facebook page.
“Today they sent our chargé d'affaires to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, where they admitted that they are keeping the pipeline closed for political reasons. They admitted that they are not restoring oil supplies to Hungary for political reasons. They admitted that there is no physical or technical reason not to restore supplies, there are only political reasons. They also made it clear that they want weapons and money in exchange for restoring oil supplies to Hungary,” Szijjártó said.
He emphasized that Hungary is not sending Ukraine any money or weapons.
The Hungarian minister did not provide any other details regarding the circumstances and reasons for summoning the chargé d'affaires to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
At the same time, Szijjártó stated that Ukraine has no right to threaten and jeopardize energy supplies to Hungary.
“That's why we continue to demand that the Ukrainians restore oil supplies to Hungary, open a physically perfectly suitable pipeline, and stop interfering in the Hungarian electoral process,” he said.
How did the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry react?
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine stated that Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto spread “false theses” about the content of the meeting with the temporary charge d'affaires of Hungary to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Therefore, the Hungarian diplomat was summoned to the ministry again for a conversation.
This was reported to journalists by Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tykhyi.
“Since Minister Szijjártó spread false theses and completely distorted the content of the meeting with the temporary charge d'affaires of Hungary at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the Hungarian diplomat was summoned to the Foreign Ministry again. At the second meeting, which took place a few hours after the first, he was shown the inadmissibility of distorting the content of the conversations, with the illusory hope that the second time the undistorted content would reach Budapest,” he said.
According to Tykhy, at the meetings at the Foreign Ministry there were no signals from the Ukrainian side, in particular, that “the resumption of oil supplies to Hungary through the Druzhba oil pipeline was blocked for political reasons.”
“The subject was Prime Minister Orban's statements regarding potential threats to Hungary's critical energy infrastructure. The Hungarian side, in particular, was informed that Ukraine is ready to provide Hungary with assistance to protect its facilities. The Ukrainian side proposed using operational channels of information exchange and coordination between the relevant bodies of both countries responsible for the protection of critical infrastructure. Of course, if Viktor Orban's statements are based on facts, not fantasies,” the spokesman said.
This was reported to journalists by Foreign Ministry spokesman Georgy Tykhyi.
“Since Minister Szijjártó spread false theses and completely distorted the content of the meeting with the temporary charge d'affaires of Hungary at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the Hungarian diplomat was summoned to the Foreign Ministry again. At the second meeting, which took place a few hours after the first, he was shown the inadmissibility of distorting the content of the conversations, with the illusory hope that the second time the undistorted content would reach Budapest,” he said.
According to Tykhy, at the meetings at the Foreign Ministry there were no signals from the Ukrainian side, in particular, that “the resumption of oil supplies to Hungary through the Druzhba oil pipeline was blocked for political reasons.”
“The subject was Prime Minister Orban's statements regarding potential threats to Hungary's critical energy infrastructure. The Hungarian side, in particular, was informed that Ukraine is ready to provide Hungary with assistance to protect its facilities. The Ukrainian side proposed using operational channels of information exchange and coordination between the relevant bodies of both countries responsible for the protection of critical infrastructure. Of course, if Viktor Orban's statements are based on facts, not fantasies,” the spokesman said.