EC pledges to respond in due time to Hungary, Slovakia request to ensure security of oil supplies via Druzhba pipeline

MOSCOW. Aug 28 (Interfax) - The European Commission will respond in due time to the request by Hungary and Slovakia to ensure the security of oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline.

"We are in touch with both Hungary and Slovakia and we will reply to their letter in due time," an EC representative told Interfax.

"Security of supply is a priority for the Commission and we are in close and constant contact with our Member States to ensure it," the representative said.

Following the latest halt in oil pumping via the Druzhba pipeline due to an attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that he and Slovakia's Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar had written to the European Commission calling for security guarantees for oil supplies. He said he hoped the EC would keep its promise and resist Ukraine's attempts to block oil supplies to Hungary.

Oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, which came to a halt on August 22 as a result of damage to a section near the Russian-Belarusian border following a nighttime strike by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, only resumed on Thursday morning, August 28. The pipeline came under attack for the third time in a short period of time.