Accept supplies: Hungary and Slovakia will be able to continue oil purchases from the Russian Federation

Hungary and Slovakia will retain the opportunity to buy Russian oil. The EU has not set a final date for the exemptions from the embargo on supplies to these two countries, the European Commission told Izvestia. A temporary departure from the general ban on the import of Russian oil for pumping to Central European countries that do not have the opportunity to receive it by sea was made in 2022. Nevertheless, in May, the EC intends to publish a roadmap for the complete abandonment of Russian energy sources by 2027. Slovakia supports the use of existing oil transportation routes, the Ministry of Economy of the republic told Izvestia. Experts also believe that Bratislava and Budapest will continue to purchase raw materials from Russia anyway. Why it will be difficult for the EU to replace our oil is in the Izvestia article.

Europe continues to buy Russian oil

The EU has not set an expiration date for exceptions to the embargo on Russian oil supplies for Hungary and Slovakia, the European Commission told Izvestia.

— As for oil, a temporary departure was made from the EU's general ban on the import of Russian oil in order to ensure the security of supplies to some member states due to their geographical location. The expiration date of this derogation has not been set," the EC said.

Back in June 2022, the European Union adopted the sixth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, including an embargo on sea shipments of Russian oil from December 5, 2022 and petroleum products from February 5, 2023. Exceptions were provided for imports via the Druzhba oil pipeline in respect of those EU states that, due to their geographical situation, have no alternatives for obtaining resources. The Druzhba oil pipeline passes through Belarus, where it splits into two branches: the northern one goes to Poland and Germany, and the southern one goes through Ukraine to Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

"This deviation from the embargo is combined with a ban on the transfer of imported products to other member states or to third countries, as well as petroleum products produced from them," the EC said.

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Although no specific list of States has been published, the list of countries for which an exception has been made is gradually being reduced. Poland and Germany have stopped relying on the exemption from the oil embargo since June 23, 2023. The Czech Republic has fully switched to non-Russian oil supplies since April 2025. Prague is now receiving black gold through the upgraded Transalpine TAL pipeline connecting Italy and Central European countries. The cost of its modernization amounted to approximately €70 million. Therefore, now only Hungary and Slovakia continue to receive Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline.

— The private company Slovnaft is engaged in the purchase and delivery of oil to Slovakia. However, the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic supports the use of existing transportation routes, the Ministry of Economy of the Republic told Izvestia.

Hungary and Slovakia will be able to defend their right to buy energy from Russia through this pipeline, since the situation is less tense now than in 2022, when they were able to achieve an exception from the oil embargo, Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University and the National Energy Security Fund, told Izvestia.

— Another question is that if Brussels manages to reform decision-making within the European Union and eliminate the veto as such, then this will be a big problem for Hungary. If they are stripped of their veto power, 75% of the votes may be in favor of banning the import of Russian oil. And then Slovakia and Hungary will lose this opportunity," the expert noted.

Budapest has previously used the need for its consent to the extension of sanctions against Russia as a lever of pressure on the EU to maintain oil supplies through Druzhba. In January, the European Commission gave Hungary the energy security guarantees requested by Budapest, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

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The EU is going to completely ban the import of oil from the Russian Federation

The European Commission intends to achieve a phased withdrawal of the EU from Russian fossil fuels, including for Central European countries, and a roadmap is expected to be published in the coming weeks, the EC told Izvestia.

Earlier, Brussels announced plans to completely abandon fuel imports from Russia by 2027. A group of ten countries, including the current chairman of the EU Council, Poland, has already demanded that supplies of Russian LNG and pipeline gas to the EU be completely stopped. Brussels is also considering banning European companies from entering into new contracts for Russian gas supplies. The developed mechanism must receive the approval of the European Parliament and the majority of EU countries.

Moscow remains the main supplier of oil to Bratislava and Budapest. In 2024, Russia supplied 4.78 million tons of oil to Hungary via the southern branch of the Druzhba oil pipeline, the Russian government reported. Overall, Russian oil accounts for 70% of Hungarian imports. Crude oil supplies from Russia to Slovakia averaged about 450,000 tons per month between 2008 and 2024.

Slovakia is acting correctly in continuing to buy oil from Russia, because abandoning it harms the republic's economy, Peter Marcek, an ex-member of parliament, told Izvestia.

— Our government, represented by Robert Fico, has the task of helping the Slovak people. The previous government was pro—American, it did everything that the EU ordered, it caused huge economic losses," the ex-MP said.

Slovakia would like to strengthen economic cooperation with the Russian Federation, concluded Marcek.

Hungary's ability to buy oil from Russia after 2027 depends on three important factors. Firstly, next year the country will hold parliamentary elections, and the chances of victory for the current Prime Minister Viktor Orban are 50%. If the opposition succeeds, Budapest will join EU policy, Gabor Stier, head of the foreign policy department at Magyar Nemzet newspaper, told Izvestia.

— A lot depends on the relations between Russia and the United States: if this positive trend continues, Trump will allow Hungary to buy Russian oil. In addition, this exception may remain if Hungary's neighbors, such as Slovakia, support it. It will be very difficult to do this alone, almost impossible," Stier concluded.

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Theoretically, the EU is able to replace Russian oil for Hungary and Slovakia. In particular, it is possible to expand some of the pipelines, for example, to supply oil via the Adriatic route from Croatia, expert Yushkov believes. The capacity of the Adriatic pipeline is 14.3 million tons of oil per year. Croatia currently imports 2 million tons of oil through this pipeline, while Serbia imports 3.3 million tons, according to open data.

— Another question is that this oil will be a priori more expensive, plus there will be costs for additional capacity increase. Therefore, of course, these are big costs for these countries, and they don't want to take them, they want to buy more profitable oil from Russia," Yushkov said.

Druzhba has already stopped its work. At the end of June 2024, Kiev restricted the transit of Lukoil oil through Ukrainian territory, but supplies to Rosneft and Tatneft continued through the pipeline. Hungary and Slovakia promised to go to court and asked the European Commission to urge Ukraine to reverse this decision, but were refused. By the way, Croatia also offered to supply oil to Central Europe through its territory. As a result, Bratislava and Budapest increased imports from other Russian companies.

At the same time, the EU has not been able to completely abandon Russian oil. In 2023, the EU countries only officially purchased more than €29 billion worth of Russian oil and petroleum products, according to Eurostat statistics. In February of this year, Brussels increased oil purchases from Russia to the highest since October last year — by €581.2 million.