Slovakia will block the EU’s next sanctions package against Russia unless Russian oil flows again to the country through the Druzhba pipeline via Ukraine, Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár told parliament on Thursday.
“If the Druzhba oil pipeline is not put back into operation and the 20th sanctions package is already on the table for a vote, we will not agree,” the left-wing nationalist politician was quoted as saying by the TASR news agency.
“We have no other instruments to enforce that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky together with the European Commission reopens Druzhba,” Blanár explained
Slovakia, a member of both the European Union and NATO, had already declared an “oil emergency” in mid-February because no crude oil has flowed through the Druzhba pipeline via Ukraine from Russia since the end of January.
Slovakia remains largely dependent on Russian oil supplies and has therefore been granted an exemption from EU sanctions against Russia that was also agreed with Kiev.
Ukraine maintains that the Druzhba pipeline was damaged by Russian drone attacks, but the left-wing nationalist Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has questioned this, as does outgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Like Budapest, Bratislava has so far demanded an independent inspection of the pipeline in vain.
Ukraine had already held out the prospect of an imminent resumption of oil transit in February when the European Commission presented its 20th sanctions package. Since then, however, it has repeatedly postponed the date and Slovakia together with Hungary has opposed the sanctions package.
Ukraine loan to still go through
Still, unlike the Orbán government, which was ousted in a landslide victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, Slovakia is still not planning to block a €90 billion ($106 billion) EU loan to Ukraine.
“Nothing has changed in that regard,” Blanár stressed on Thursday.
Fico has long accused Ukraine of “blackmail” over the Druzhba pipeline because Slovakia has refused to supply Ukarine with weapons from its own army stocks.
However, the country is one of Ukraine’s most important supporters with “non-lethal” goods such as mine-clearing systems, diesel generators or energy supplies. Fico has repeatedly accused Ukraine of endangering Slovakia’s energy supply. His opponents, however, accuse him of pursuing a “pro-Russian” policy.
