Hungary vowed to block the latest round of EU sanctions against Moscow unless Ukraine restarts Russian oil flows to Hungary and Slovakia, escalating a dispute just before the war’s four-year anniversary.
Hungary and Slovakia are the EU’s only nations that rely heavily on Russian oil shipped through the Druzhba pipeline over Ukraine.
Budapest and Bratislava have also threatened to stop electricity supplies to Ukraine over the issue: Kyiv condemned what it described as “ultimatums and blackmail.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, one of Vladimir Putin’s top European partners, has previously threatened to scuttle EU efforts to penalize the Kremlin.
Tensions between Brussels and Budapest have escalated ahead of Hungary’s elections this spring. Orbán has made anti-Ukraine messages central to his campaign.
