Sakova: Russian Oil Supplies to Slovakia via Druzhba Pipeline Restored

Bratislava, 23 April (TASR) - After nearly three months, Russian oil began flowing to Slovakia again via the Druzhba pipeline at 2:00 a.m. on Thursday, Economy Minister Denisa Sakova (Voice-SD) said on social media. "Currently, oil is being received in accordance with the approved plan," stated Sakova. According to previous information, Ukraine reportedly provided the plan to the state-run oil-transport operator Transpetrol on Wednesday (22 April). Druzhba was damaged due to the war between Russia and Ukraine on 27 January. Since then, neither Slovakia nor Hungary had been receiving oil through this pipeline. Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) suspected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of halting the supplies for political reasons despite the pipeline being functional. Zelenskyy linked the repair of the Druzhba pipeline to the unblocking of a €90-billion loan from the EU and progress in accession talks. The loan in which Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia are not participating, was unblocked by Hungary on Wednesday (22 April), thus allowing its provision by amending the EU's financial framework via the so-called written procedure. jrg