The Japan Times - Hungary detains seven Ukrainians as Kyiv, Budapest quarrel over Russian oil

Hungary and Slovakia say Ukraine is deliberately delaying reopening a key oil pipeline pumping Russian oil to the two landlocked EU member states, which Kyiv says was damaged by Russian strikes in January.

Early Friday, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiga accused Hungary of taking "hostage" a group of Ukrainian bank employees who were transporting $40 million and nine kilogrammes of gold through the country.

Hungary's National Tax and Customs Administration said it detained seven Ukrainian citizens, including a former Ukrainian secret service general, and two armoured cash transport vehicles on Thursday.

NAV "is conducting criminal proceedings on suspicion of money laundering", it said in a statement to national news wire MTI, adding the investigation was done in cooperation with the Counter-Terrorism Centre.

Ukraine on Friday urged its citizens to avoid travel to Hungary, citing "the inability to guarantee their safety amid the arbitrary actions of the Hungarian authorities".

In a radio interview earlier Friday, Orban said until the oil delivery issue is resolved, Hungary "will use every step and every means at our disposal".

"We have stopped gasoline deliveries to Ukraine, we are not delivering diesel either, we are still delivering electricity, and we will also stop things passing through Hungary, things that are important to Ukraine, until we receive Ukraine's approval for oil deliveries," Orban told state radio.

Relations between the two neigbours have already been strained by Orban's sustaining ties with Russia despite Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, and his opposition to military aid for Kyiv.

But ties deteriorated further after the Hungarian premier ramped up political attacks on Ukraine ahead of a closely fought parliamentary election on April 12.

Orban has been stalling a 90-billion-euro ($106 billion) EU loan to the war-torn country and a new round of sanctions on Russia, demanding that Kyiv reopen the pipeline first.

- Threats and accusations -

The nationalist leader has accused Ukraine of holding up Russian oil for political reasons, claiming the Druzhba pipeline has not been damaged in Russia's January 27 attack as Kyiv claims.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the pipeline can only be made operational after another four to six weeks, although he would personally prefer not to restore transit.

He also appeared to have issued a direct threat to Orban.

"We hope that one person in the European Union will not block the 90 billion (euros)... Otherwise we will give this person's address to our Armed Forces, to our guys. Let them call him and talk to him in their own language," Zelensky said.

The statement was condemned by Hungary's government and its opposition as well.

In his state radio interview, Orban said he would not give into Kyiv's demands.

"Not even if they blackmail me, not even if they threaten my life, because this is not really about me. I am convinced that we must not comply with this, because it would be bad for the country," he said.

- 'Hostages' -

The State Savings Bank of Ukraine, or Oschadbank, said that the bank staff were transporting the cash and gold between Raiffeisen Bank Austria and Oschadbank Ukraine in two vehicles on Thursday.

A Raiffeisen spokesman told AFP the company is not "affected by the incident", declining to comment further.

"We are talking about Hungary taking hostages and stealing money," Sybiga added on X.

"This is state terrorism and racketeering."

The Oschadbank cash-in-transit vehicles that were seized on Thursday have been placed in a "restricted area of the Hungarian Counterterrorism Centre", a source with knowledge of the matter told a group of journalists including AFP.

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S.Ogawa--JT