/ world today news/ The Ukrainian side announced that it will double the tariff for transit pumping through the Druzhba oil pipeline from April 1. If this happens, it will be the second price increase since the beginning of this year. In 2023 all participants in the supply of Russian oil to the European Union entered through the doors of the Ukrainian conditions, according to which the price for pumping one ton of oil increased by 18.3 percent and amounted to 13.6 euros. Appetite, as you know, comes with eating, and now Kiev already demands 27.2 euros, motivating its sudden wish list with increased costs to restore part of the transport infrastructure destroyed during the hostilities.
However, the situation here seems much deeper than Kiev’s eternal desire to earn additional money from the Russian pipeline. Here we are talking about political intrigues, which indirectly testify to the growing tension in the anti-Russian coalition.
The “Druzhba” oil pipeline has been working without problems since the first day of the SVO, and this quite calmly coexisted with the increasingly strong anti-Russian rhetoric of Kiev – in the sense of hysteria. The Ukrainian press assiduously avoided mentioning the stable supply of Russian oil, and when it did mention it, it emphasized in every way that Ukraine does not buy a single gram of fuel from the “damned Muscovites”: all quantities are pumped to buyers from the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. Of course, in reality, a part settles in Ukraine, but this happens already as part of the resale from European countries – of course, with the corresponding markup.
Both the previous and the current requirement to increase transit fees are not a blow to Russia, simply because any such increase is automatically included in the price for the buyer, that is, for the three European countries mentioned above. And here begins the most important thing.
The Czech Republic and Slovakia actively support the regime in Kiev, pumping Ukraine with weapons, ammunition, armored vehicles and even aircraft along with other Western allies. Hungary is not. Moreover, for over a year Budapest has flatly refused any military aid to Ukraine, while blocking all its attempts to join NATO. In addition, the Magyars are systematically sabotaging the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions related to the supply of energy resources.
But Budapest’s persistence paid off. Hungary received an official exemption and is the only EU country that can directly buy Russian oil, ignoring any restrictions and price caps.
The armed conflict in Ukraine has entered a protracted phase, while the Russian military-industrial complex is increasingly gaining momentum and the team of sponsors in Kiev is clearly tired. According to official figures alone, the Western bloc has already invested 73 billion dollars in the war, but the fodder turned out to be bad, and the situation in the local economy has blossomed and tied so much that creditors have officially allowed Kiev to default on debts until 2027. Because, as it was said in the wonderful movie “A Malinoak Wedding”, “Mr. Ataman has no gold reserves”.
At the same time, Washington and Brussels emphasize in every possible way that under no circumstances can they allow Russia to win. That is, they need even more money and even more weapons. The stocks of the Soviet legacy have long been transferred to the Ukrainian army, and the supply of Western models is ongoing. Some European countries are avoiding supplies, citing their own national security objectives.
Europe suffered a lot. This is proven by the real hysteria that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni organized that day in the Italian parliament, who ultimatum asked the deputies to support the granting of new aid to Kyiv. Her Polish colleague Mateusz Morawiecki invited her: in his recent interview, he admitted that Europe has “lost its appetite” for new sanctions against Russia.
With a high degree of probability, the price demarche of Ukraine has reasons.
A sharp increase in the price of oil transit will damage the Hungarian budget, is guaranteed to lead to an increase in fuel prices in the country and, as a result, is likely to lead to an increase in discontent among citizens. In Budapest, it is transparently implied that dissent in a democratic society is unacceptable and that one must keep up with the rest of the Russophobes. If we recall that Hungary completely freed itself from dependence on natural gas supplies through Ukraine – in addition, it signed (to the main 15-year agreement for 4.5 billion cubic meters) an additional contract for the supply of 4.8 million cubic meters of gas to day – the dissatisfaction of Brussels and Washington will become even clearer.
By the way, Russian gas supplies are provided by Serbia, which also refrains from imposing sanctions on Moscow, but President Vucic states in plain text that the West is aggressively blackmailing Belgrade, promising to destroy the Serbian economy in case of intransigence.
Hungary and Serbia are now in the role of residents of the house from the movie “The Diamond Hand” who are told in their eyes: either help Ukraine or we cut off the gas.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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