Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, an adviser to Polish President Karol Nawrocki, has told Conservative Radio Wnet that the halting of Russian oil transit to Hungary is part of a “political operation” designed to thwart Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s prospects ahead of April’s general election.

Brussels-Kyiv pact behind Russian oil transit stop

Saryusz-Wolski claimed on the Polish station that Slovakia and Hungary refused to approve the EU’s 20th sanctions package after Ukraine blocked all Russian oil flows through the Druzhba pipeline. He alleged that an agreement between the European Council and Ukraine’s President lay behind the move, with the deliberate aim of damaging PM Orbán before the poll, the Hungarian News Agency wrote.

Polish Presidential adviser
Photo: FB/Jacek Saryusz-Wolski

The adviser went further, suggesting that the recent attack on an oil pumping station in Hungary might have been a political act—and thus intentional. He expressed hope that his theory proved unfounded, warning that Ukraine would otherwise “shoot itself in the foot”, given its reliance on electricity supplies from Slovakia and Hungary, which have now also been interrupted.

The Polish president is regarded as a political ally of Orbán. He nonetheless declined to meet Hungary’s prime minister last November, after the latter’s trip to Moscow.

Karol Nawrocki Orbán
Karol Nawrocki. Photo: depositphotos.com

No technical obstacles to restarting oil transfer to Hungary, says Orbán

“Facts are facts: there are no technical obstacles to restarting the oil transfer via the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary. It only requires a political decision by Ukraine,” Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in his reply to Antonio Costa, the president of the European Council, on Tuesday.

“As you are aware, I am one of the most disciplined and consistent members of the European Council. I fully understand your concerns. But you also certainly see the absurdity of the situation: we take a decision financially favourable to Ukraine that I personally disapprove, then Ukraine creates an energy emergency situation in Hungary, and you ask me to pretend that nothing happened,” Orbán said in his letter published on Facebook.

Orbán election hungary hungarian government
Photo: Facebook/Orbán Viktor

“This is not possible,” the prime minister said. “I am not in a position to support any decision whatsoever favourable to Ukraine until they return to normality.”

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