{"id":110273,"date":"2026-02-26T10:22:01","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/?p=110273"},"modified":"2026-02-26T10:22:01","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T15:22:01","slug":"hungary-pushes-croatia-on-russian-crude-transit-and-plans-to-go-to-the-european-commission-if-blocked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/hungary-pushes-croatia-on-russian-crude-transit-and-plans-to-go-to-the-european-commission-if-blocked\/110273\/","title":{"rendered":"Hungary Pushes Croatia on Russian Crude Transit and Plans to Go to the European Commission if Blocked"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The latest dispute over Russian oil transit in Europe has taken another political turn. Hungary\u2019s government has publicly urged Croatia\u2019s state-owned pipeline operator JANAF<\/strong> to allow Russian crude oil shipments to pass through Croatian ports and pipelines toward Hungarian refineries. Budapest says this should be permitted as long as the oil is not on any EU or U.S. sanctions lists. If Croatia refuses, Hungary says it will take the issue up with the European Commission for a formal decision.<\/p>\n

Hungary and neighbouring Slovakia currently rely on Russian crude because they received temporary exemptions from broader EU bans after the Druzhba pipeline \u2014 the main route for Russian oil into landlocked Central Europe, was damaged in Ukraine in late January. The shutdown forced both governments to look for new supply routes. Budapest\u2019s state oil company MOL Group has been one of the biggest drivers behind this push, seeking maritime deliveries and transit through Croatia\u2019s Adriatic infrastructure.<\/p>\n

JANAF and Croatian officials so far have been cautious about transporting Russian crude, saying they must first interpret EU and U.S. sanctions and assess legal hurdles. Croatia is currently transporting non-Russian oil through its Adria pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia, and more such deliveries are expected in the coming weeks. Brussels has publicly confirmed that non-Russian crude sent via the pipeline is helping cover regional supply needs without creating immediate shortages.<\/p>\n

Hungary maintains that if a cargo and its transporters are not on sanction lists, they should be allowed to transit. The government argues that blocking Russian crude \u2014 even if not itself sanctioned \u2014 would harm Hungary\u2019s energy security and add unnecessary political tension. If Croatia continues to resist, Budapest has said it will appeal directly to the European Commission to clarify the legal situation and ensure compliance with EU rules.<\/p>\n

The dispute comes amid wider unease within the EU over Russian energy imports. While most member states have sharply reduced or ended Russian oil purchases, Hungary and Slovakia have held exemptions that allow continued imports in limited circumstances. These exemptions were meant to protect supply security after the pipeline disruption but have now become a flashpoint between EU neighbours and Brussels.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The latest dispute over Russian oil transit in Europe has taken another political turn. Hungary\u2019s government has publicly urged Croatia\u2019s\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":294,"featured_media":110274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-110273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-markets"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/294"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110275,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110273\/revisions\/110275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}