Czech Minister Havlicek: Dispute over Druzhba Must Be Addressed Objectively

Prague/Brussels, 16 March (TASR-correspondent) - The Czech Republic is prepared to head a mission of European experts to assess the condition of the Druzhba oil pipeline in Ukraine, Czech Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlicek stated on Monday ahead of the EU Energy Council meeting in Brussels, emphasising that the dispute between Ukraine, Hungary, and Slovakia has become politicised and has reached an emotional level, and there's a need to begin addressing it objectively, TASR's special correspondent has reported. "There's a dispute between Ukraine, Hungary, and Slovakia. It is necessary to calm these relations and shift the discussion from an emotional political debate to a factual one. And in our opinion, Ukraine should allow a group of European experts to visit the site. We'll propose that it should be headed by the Czech Republic," said Havlicek. According to him, the Czech Republic is capable of setting up a team of experts who, along with representatives of other European countries, would assess the actual condition of the pipeline on site. This would allow for an independent determination of the extent to which the pipeline is or isn't damaged and by when Ukraine would be able to restore operations. "If my information is correct, the Ukrainians wouldn't accept a Slovak-Hungarian delegation, so we say: then accept a European one. I'm convinced that sufficient support can be provided to ensure that this expert group will be able to get there. Someone must head and guarantee the mission, and we as the Czech Republic are prepared - if we can agree on this with our European partners and other countries - to take on this initiative ourselves," added the Czech minister. Oil from Russia stopped flowing through the Druzhba pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia on 27 January. According to Ukraine, the reason is a Russian attack on pipeline infrastructure in the city of Brody in Lviv Oblast. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Slovak Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) suspect Kiev of political blackmail and interference in Hungary's election campaign. Ukraine rejects the accusation and says that it's working to repair the damaged infrastructure. am/df