Hungary and Serbia have agreed to build a pipeline to supply Serbia with Russian Urals crude via the Druzhba oil pipeline as Belgrade’s shipments via Croatia fall under EU sanctions, the Hungarian government said on Monday, as Reuters reports.

The EU last week agreed to impose a series of new restrictions against Russia, including an oil price cap for Russian seaborne crude deliveries to third countries. Serbia gets its oil from Croatia via the JANAF oil pipeline.

“The new oil pipeline would enable Serbia to be supplied with cheaper Urals crude oil, connecting to the Friendship oil pipeline,” Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs tweeted.

He added that Serbia’s oil supply was largely via a pipeline through Croatia, “but this is unlikely to be possible in the future because of the sanctions that have been adopted”.

Hungary, which is largely reliant on Russian oil and gas, has been the most vocal critic of sanctions against Russia in the EU, saying the measures drove up energy prices. Budapest backed last week’s sanctions package.

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