Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Slovakia and Hungary said they would not support sanctions against Russian energy which the European Union is preparing for in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine. The reason is, the two NATO countries are too dependent on energy supplies from the Red Bear Country.
Slovakia is almost completely dependent on Russian oil which it receives through the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline.
Slovak Economy Minister Richard Sulik said the country’s sole refiner, Slovnaft, could not immediately switch from Russian crude to other types of oil. Changing technology will take several years.
“So, we will definitely emphasize this (dependence on Russian oil),” Sulik was quoted as saying Al JazeeraWednesday (4/5/2022).
Meanwhile, Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the country would not support any sanctions “which would make transporting natural gas or oil from Russia to Hungary impossible”.
“The bottom line is simple, that Hungary’s energy supply cannot be allowed to be threatened because we have to pay the price for the war in Ukraine,” he said.
Despite disagreements among EU members about new energy sanctions, European Council President Charles Michel vowed to “break Russia’s war machine” by directing countries on the continent away from Russia’s natural gas supplies.
As anticipation, Benua Biru is competing to secure alternative supplies by prioritizing global liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports from countries that include major producers such as Algeria, Qatar, and the United States.
That includes an LNG facility under construction in Northern Greece, which Michel and the leaders of the four Balkans visited on Tuesday.
“We also sanction Russia to exert financial, economic and political pressure because our goal is simple: We must destroy Russia’s war machine,” Michel said.
(luc/luc)
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