Brussels in two minds about Ukraine’s pipeline hold-up

Ukraine’s decision to hold up an EU mission to inspect the Druzhba pipeline delivering Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia has divided and frustrated national capitals and Brussels.

”Not smart,” “an enigma,” and “unclear”, are some of the words used in diplomatic corridors to describe Kyiv’s obstruction of a team sent to inspect the pipeline blown up in the current conflict between Ukraine and Russia.

“We don’t have a clear picture of what the Ukrainian play here is,” said an EU diplomat.

According to briefings given to Euractiv, the EU inspection team – consisting of national experts but coordinated by the European Commission – has been in Ukraine for weeks awaiting approval from Kyiv to go to the site of the most recent attack on the crucial energy pipeline.

So far that approval has not come through.

In turn, Hungary has blocked a €90 billion loan that EU leaders agreed to in December. “No oil = no money,” Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime…