Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is welcoming a proposal for the European Union to slap an embargo on Russian oil transported by ship and to exempt oil pumped overland through Ukraine to his country.
Orban says the idea is a “good approach.” But he wants guarantees that “in the case of an accident with the pipeline” Hungary would “have the right to get Russian oil from other sources.”
Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria rely on Russian oil and are reluctant to impose sweeping sanctions on crude. Russia supplies more than 60% of Hungary’s oil.
Orban’s remarks came Monday at an extraordinary EU summit focused on helping Ukraine, with sanctions a clear focus of attention.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala also says that a ban on “sea-transported oil has our support.”
Fiala says his country “simply cannot afford a situation when we’d lack some oil products.”
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