After a break lasting more than a week, Russian oil supplies to the Czech Republic via the southern section of the Druzhba pipeline in transit through Ukraine resumed. “Supply resumed at 8 pm,” a spokesman for Mero, owner and operator of the Czech section of the Druzhba pipeline, told AFP late on Friday, August 12. Czech Industry and Trade Minister Józef Sikela previously said that his country had found a way to pay the oil transit fees.

The Russian pipeline operator, Transneft, announced on August 9 that oil supplies through Ukraine had been interrupted on August 4. Transneft explained this by the fact that at the end of July, Western sanctions against Russia prevented the payment of transit fees to Ukraine. In addition to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary suffered.

The Slovak oil company Slovnaft and its Hungarian parent company MOL then offered to pay the transit fees for the section of the pipeline through Ukraine. Both the Ukrainian and Russian sides agreed. Deliveries to Slovakia resumed on 10 August and to Hungary on 11 August. The Czech Republic negotiated on its own and has now also managed to resolve the issue.

Oil embargo against Russia

In April, European Union countries agreed to gradually introduce an oil embargo against Russia as part of the sixth round of sanctions. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, however, sought a long-term exemption from the EU embargo on Russian oil imports through the Druzhba pipeline, citing their heavy dependence on Russian supplies.