BUDAPEST, February 21. /TASS/. The Druzhba oil pipeline is technically ready for operation and Ukraine is blocking oil supplies from Russian to Slovakia and Hungary via it solely for political reasons, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said.
"We know this for sure that the pipeline is suitable for transporting oil. It can be used," he said at a meeting with activists of the ruling Fidesz - Hungarian Civic Alliance party in the city of Bekescsaba in southeastern Hungary.
According to the Hungarian prime minister, by their hostile actions, the Ukrainian authorities are seeking to "provoke an energy crisis in Hungary" to put its current government in a difficult position. Budapest believes that this way Kiev along with Brussels want to support Hungary’s political opposition ahead of the parliamentary elections due to be held on April 12.
Orban stressed that attempts to damage the energy security of Hungary and Slovakia - two members of the European Union - run counter to the existing agreements between Ukraine and the EU. "The European Union and Ukraine have an association agreement, which says that Ukraine cannot make decision threatening energy supplies to EU member countries. IT was a necessary condition," he recalled.
