Hungary and Slovakia will receive Russian oil in transit through Ukraine: The European Commission has delivered the first verdict in the Lukoil scandal

Ukraine's decision to impose sanctions against the Russian company Lukoil does not threaten the energy security of Hungary and Slovakia. Oil transit through the "Druzhba" pipeline can continue even now, as Lukoil formally ceases to be the owner of oil on the Russian-Ukrainian border.

From now on, Russian oil is considered the property of European importing companies. This was stated by the Vice President of the European Commission (EC) for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis, Reuters reports.

The EC's assessment, according to the agency, is contained in a letter addressed to the foreign ministers of Hungary and Slovakia. Dombrovskis said that the decision was based on information received from the Hungarian energy company MOL.

"The oil becomes the property of trading companies on the Russian-Ukrainian border, and therefore is not subject to sanctions... The European Commission services have preliminarily concluded that urgent consultations are probably not justified, as there is currently no indication of an immediate risk to the security of supply," the statement said.

Earlier, after talks with his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Ukraine remains a reliable transit country, "but only for those countries that value freedom and the rule of law." The threat is Russia, its hybrid energy war against the Slovak people, its blackmail and political ultimatums," Shmyhal explained.

As a reminder, in the second half of July, Hungary and Slovakia announced that they would stop supplying oil from the Russian company Lukoil, which is on the NSDC sanctions list, through Ukraine. As a result, both countries accused Ukraine of violating the EU Association Agreement and asked the European Commission to start consultations on the trade part of the agreement with Ukraine. In addition, a number of high-ranking Slovak politicians resorted to blackmail and threats:

• Prime Minister Robert Fico stated that this is a "crisis situation and Slovakia does not intend to be a hostage to Ukrainian-Russian relations" and supported Hungary in its decision to block the European fund for military aid to Ukraine;
• Minister of Foreign Affairs Juraj Blanar accused the European Commission of deliberately delaying the resolution of the situation;
• Defense Minister Robert Kalinak and President Peter Pellegrini threatened to cut off electricity and gas supplies to Ukraine. However, these supplies are mainly provided by private companies that profit from them.

The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Serhii Tykhyi, said that Ukraine is ready to take part in consultations on resolving the conflict with Hungary and Slovakia. The main condition is that such consultations should be convened at the European level.

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