Russian Ambassador to Slovakia Sergey Andreyev shared with TASS news agency on March 11: "The supply of oil to Slovakia through Druzhba is being blocked by Ukrainian authorities. Russia is not involved in this situation. Our position has been clearly informed to the Slovak side: Russia is ready to fulfill its obligations and continue pumping oil through the pipeline when this line is reopened".
Ambassador Andreyev also rejected accusations from Kiev that Russia attacked the Druzhba pipeline. "The Russian side was not involved in discussions between the Slovak and Ukrainian governments on this issue," he added.
According to Mr. Andreyev, Slovakia currently does not have any alternative oil supply lines comparable to Druzhba in terms of cost and efficiency.
The Russian Ambassador also said that Slovakia may consider withdrawing its support for Ukraine's efforts to join the European Union (EU) if oil supplies are not restored.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico declared that if the oil supply through Druzhba is not resumed, the Slovak government has the right to take other measures, including withdrawing support for Ukraine's EU accession process" - the Russian diplomat said.
He added that in response to Ukraine's reaction, the Slovak government also decided to terminate the emergency power supply agreement between Slovakia and Ukraine, although planned power sources were still maintained.
Russian Ambassador to Slovakia Sergey Andreyev also criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's decision to refuse to inspect the Druzhba pipeline.
According to the Russian diplomat, this decision shows that Kiev "may be hiding something".
Previously, Politico reported that Ukraine refused to allow the European Union to inspect the Druzhba oil pipeline even though some EU countries requested to send experts to Ukraine to assess the actual condition of this oil pipeline.
Since January 27, Ukraine has stopped the transit of Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline. On February 18, the Slovak government declared a crisis due to lack of oil supply. In response to Kiev's move, Bratislava stopped supplying electricity to Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Budapest has intelligence that the pipeline is still operating normally and Ukraine's blockade of Russian oil supplies is mainly for political reasons.
