Regarding Hungary, a country that not only revels in its situation of energy dependence on Russia, but quite consciously pawns its foreign policy for discounted Russian hydrocarbons, even though it has alternatives at hand, Eugenia Gusilov analyzed the broader geopolitical context. The technical workaround found by Hungary to bypass the ban imposed in the summer by the Ukrainian government on the transit of crude oil belonging to Lukoil does not change the facts of the matter at all. The title to the crude oil is now transferred at the Belarusian-Ukrainian border, meaning the Russian crude transiting Ukraine no longer belongs to Lukoil, but to MOL.

The exception granted by the European Union to Hungary and Slovakia, allowing them to receive Russian crude delivered via the Druzhba pipeline, is temporary and will be withdrawn at some point. The two beneficiary countries of this exception are merely wasting precious time and delaying the inevitable. Kyiv agreed to the technical fix only because it does not want to antagonize the country currently holding the rotating presidency of the EU Council.