Ukraine’s Lukoil import ban political blackmail, says Orbán’s Fidesz

The leader of the European parliamentary group of the ruling Fidesz-Christian Democrats, Tamás Deutsch, and MEP Kinga Gal on Tuesday sent a letter to the European Commission, calling on the body to stand up against “Ukrainian political blackmail” that they said had put the energy security of EU member states at risk.

Based on official Ukrainian statements, the country’ decision to stop delivering crude to Hungary and Slovakia was an attempt to strong-arm those countries into changing their pro-peace stance on the war, the letter said.

At the end of July, Ukraine ramped up its sanctions on Russian oil company Lukoil, and stopped deliveries of Russian crude to Slovakia and Hungary through the Druzhba pipeline as a result.

Deutsch and Gál called on the EC to take the necessary steps so that Ukraine scraps the “unacceptable and unlawful” measures that gravely endangered the energy security of the countries, which were lacking alternative routes to purchase oil. At the same time, they said the step also ran afoul of the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement’s regulations on transit deliveries.

Political blackmail from Ukraine?

It was especially concerning that certain Ukrainian statements had shown that the measure was aiming to force Hungary and Slovakia to change its pro-peace stance, and so Ukrainian sources “have essentially admitted this was political blackmail”, they said.

In such a situation, the EC should be protecting the interests of member states “as a matter of fact”, and “should force the third country to follow the law”, the letter said. The European Commission’s steps, however, had been “inadequate, even permissive in the face of Ukraine’s blackmail”, they said.

Read also:

• Hungary slams Ukraine for Lukoil ban only because Russia asked them to? – read more HERE
• Fidesz: Non-EU Ukraine is threatening the energy security of two EU member states