Together with pro-Russian Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who on Monday cut off emergency power supplies to Ukraine, Orbán has accused Kyiv of slow-walking repairs to the Druzhba pipeline that supplies Russian oil to Hungary. Ukrainian authorities have said the pipeline was damaged in a Russian airstrike in late January and is still undergoing repairs.
Earlier this week, the Hungarian leader also blocked a €90 billion financial lifeline from the EU to Ukraine that had been agreed at a European Council meeting in December — drawing an exasperated response from EU foreign ministers on Monday.
“I am astounded about the Hungarian position,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told reporters as he headed into a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council. “I don’t think it’s right if Hungary uses its own fight for freedom to betray European sovereignty.”
But facing the prospect of defeat by his political rival, Péter Magyar — the gap is eight percentage points, according to POLITICO’s Poll of Polls — Orbán is trying to paint Magyar as pro-Ukrainian and pro-Brussels and has attacked him for his silence on the issue of oil supply and the threat from Kyiv.
“I have ordered the strengthening of the protection of critical energy infrastructure,” he said on Wednesday. “This means that soldiers and the equipment necessary to repel potential attacks will be deployed near key energy facilities.”
Additional police will patrol designated power plants, distribution stations and control centers, Orbán said. A flight ban has also been imposed in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county in northeastern Hungary on the border with Ukraine.
Magyar, for his part, has accused Orbán of nepotism and corruption, and says that after 16 years as prime minister Orbán is responsible for Hungary’s economic woes, which in turn have driven higher prices, especially for fuel.
“Instead of addressing the ongoing struggles of ordinary Hungarians and businesses, Viktor Orbán chooses to mislead, provoke, and burden his country with some of the highest taxes in Europe,” Magyar wrote on social media Tuesday, adding that petrol is considerably cheaper in Poland, Czechia and Bulgaria.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.