Hungary and Slovakia are asking Croatia to supply them with Russian oil bypassing Ukraine

After oil shipments from Russia via Ukraine through the Druzhba oil pipeline stopped, Hungary and Slovakia asked Croatia to arrange supplies of Russian crude through the Adriatic Pipeline (JANAF).

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó wrote this on X.

He said that Zagreb is able to fulfill the request thanks to a sanctions exemption that “provides for the possibility of importing Russian oil by sea in the event of a disruption to pipeline supplies.”

Croatian Economy Minister Ante Šušnjar expressed readiness to help the two countries:

“Croatia will not allow fuel supplies to Central Europe to be threatened. We are ready to help resolve the acute problem of disruptions within the framework of EU legislation and OFAC rules. No one should be left without fuel,” he wrote on X.

Earlier, Viktor Orbán’s government repeatedly complained that JANAF allegedly cannot ensure pumping oil in the required volumes, and that Croatian authorities raised transit fees, making deliveries via Croatia commercially unprofitable for Hungary.

At the same time, Šušnjar stressed that the Adriatic Pipeline, despite the criticism, is ready to operate, and therefore there are no longer any technical excuses for any EU country to remain dependent on Russian oil.

“A barrel bought from Russia may seem cheaper to some countries, but it helps finance the war and attacks on the Ukrainian people,” the minister said.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha explained the halt in supplies via the Druzhba pipeline starting January 27 by saying that Hungary had kept quiet about a Russian strike on a section of the pipeline on Ukrainian territory. In response, Budapest said that Ukraine had allegedly cut the electricity supply to that section of the pipeline. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on February 15 accused Ukraine of deliberately delaying the resumption of exports.

Reuters reports that the Hungarian energy company MOL has already asked the government in Budapest to allow the use of strategic oil reserves. If supplies from the east are not restored in the coming days, about 250,000 tons of crude oil would need to be released at the first stage, the company said.

According to the analytics firm ExPro, in 2025 Ukraine transported about 9.73 million tons of Russian oil via the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline.