Russia's oil flow resumed after 3 months, at 2 am on April 23, local time.
Hungary and Slovakia have escalated tensions with Ukraine since Russia's oil supplies to these two countries were disrupted in January.
Unlike the remaining countries in the European Union (EU), Hungary and Slovakia are still dependent on Russia for energy needs.
The two countries accused Ukraine of not repairing the damaged pipeline in time. Hungary has blocked a large EU loan to Ukraine while Slovakia refuses to support new sanctions against Russia until oil supplies are restored.
Also related to the Druzhba pipeline, on April 22, TASS reported that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak shared with the press that Druzhba is still the most effective infrastructure asset to supply energy resources to Europe.
In our opinion, this infrastructure is generally the most efficient for transporting energy resources to Europe. Certainly, this pipeline should be used at full capacity when operating normally. This is beneficial for both transporters and consumers," Novak said.
The Russian Deputy Prime Minister added that transporting oil through oil pipelines is more economically beneficial than transporting by sea.
