Russian oil deal proves Hungary energy crisis fears unfounded, EU says

A controversial agreement that will allow Hungary and Slovakia to continue importing millions of barrels of Russian oil shows a months-long row over Ukrainian sanctions was never about energy security, the European Commission said Thursday.

The deal, struck by Hungarian energy giant MOL and green-lighted by Kyiv, will allow Budapest to take ownership of Russian crude as it crosses the border, meaning it will not be subject to a new Ukrainian ban on supplies shipped by Moscow’s Lukoil. Budapest had claimed the restrictions would spell catastrophe for its economy, despite the availability of fuel from alternative providers.

Responding to a query from POLITICO, the Commission’s trade spokesperson Olof Gill said that the EU executive had consistently assessed “there was no threat to energy security” as a result of the Ukrainian sanctions, and that was still the case.

In a blistering attack on Brussels the day before, Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár praised the Hungarian workaround, which will also guarantee the flow of Russian crude to his own country.

“Russian oil will continue to flow to us, which is good news for Slovak motorists and the entire economy,” he said on Wednesday, thanking Budapest while claiming “the European Commission has not helped to find a solution or aid the people of Slovakia and Hungary.”

In his comments to POLITICO, Gill hit back, arguing that Kyiv had always maintained “Lukoil is the only company facing sanctions in Ukraine, and that traders can continue their operations within Ukrainian territory.”

“If anything, the statement by the Slovakian minister yesterday only confirms the Commission’s previous assessment — in other words, that Lukoil is not the only Russian oil supplier to Hungary and Slovakia,” Gill said.

The two countries are the most openly opposed to European Union sanctions on Moscow, and have deepened their energy ties with Russia despite the war raging in Ukraine. As landlocked nations, they were granted what was supposed to be a temporary exemption to a bloc-wide ban on Russian oil arriving via pipeline while they supposedly looked for alternatives.

In reality, though, Hungary has actually increased oil imports via the Ukrainian pipeline by 50 percent since 2021 and MOL has seen its profits hit record levels, paying more and more taxes to Viktor Orbán’s government. Analysts and other EU member countries accuse Budapest of effectively profiteering from the war by buying Russian crude on the cheap.