Bratislava is ready to block a planned EU loan for Ukraine if Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is voted out of office in the upcoming election, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said. It would be a justified means of compelling Kiev to resume Russian oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline, he said in a statement on Facebook on Sunday.
A €90 billion ($105 billion) EU emergency loan for Ukraine was vetoed by Orban last month after Kiev halted vital Russian oil supplies to both Hungary and Slovakia via the Soviet pipeline. Kiev claimed it was damaged by Russian strikes – something Moscow has denied. Hungary and Slovakia – both heavily dependent on Russian energy – accused Kiev of deliberately cutting it off in a bid to exert pressure on them.
“[Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky] is permanently harming us and he thinks that he will force us to change our stance on the war” Fico said.
The prime minister also slammed the EU loan by saying that it was essentially a “gift” since Kiev would not repay it. Its only purpose i to “motivate [the Ukrainians] to fight till the last soldier,” he argued.
“The most important message will be that Slovakia is ready to take up the mantle of Hungary if it is necessary,” Fico stated.
Hungary recently seized some $80 million worth of cash and another $20 million in gold bars that was being transported to Kiev by a Ukrainian team. The seizure was part of a money laundering probe. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrey Sybiga accused Budapest of kidnapping for detaining those escorting the cash.
Orban is also a longstanding opponent of Ukraine’s EU membership bid and military assistance to the country.
Earlier this week, Zelensky issued a thinly veiled threat against the Hungarian prime minister, saying he would let the Ukrainian military “speak to him in their own language.” Orban responded by stating that no threats to his life would change his position.