Hungary’s peace and security are the most important; therefore, Defence Council remains in session

At the Wednesday meeting of the Defence Council, we decided to take the most stringent possible action against Islamist extremist groups: troops of the army have been deployed in 75 locations in the interest of the protection of key energy facilities, and we set up a fact-finding committee to investigate the status of the Druzhba crude oil pipeline, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced on Facebook.

In his video post, Mr Orbán said at the meeting they reviewed the measures that are necessary due to the Ukrainian oil blockade and the war in the Middle East. In this situation, Hungary's peace and security are the most important; therefore, the Defence Council remains in session on an ongoing basis, he added.

The Prime Minster said due to the conflict in the Middle East, the threat of terrorism has increased in Europe, and with regard to this, in Hungary, they have enhanced the protection of the people and are increasing the presence of the police and members of the military in public spaces.

"I instructed the law enforcement agencies to take the most stringent possible action against persons associated with Islamist extremist groups," he pointed out.

He also said that they must likewise pay special attention to critical energy facilities because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that "he will prevent Russian energy from reaching Europe." "Therefore, all energy facilities using Russian energy may be the targets of Ukrainian sabotage operations," Mr Orbán warned, observing that "the Nord Stream pipeline, too, was blown up by the Ukrainians."

"Therefore, we decided to reinforce the protection of Hungarian energy facilities; according to the report I received today, forces have already been deployed in 75 locations," he related.

They further decided to set up a fact-finding committee headed by the parliamentary state secretary of the Ministry for Energy Gábor Czepek, whose mission it is to assess the actual state of the Druzhba crude oil pipeline on site, the Prime Minister stated.

"We demand that President Zelenskyy let our inspectors into Ukraine and enable the inspection of the pipeline," Mr Orbán said.

"Hungary will not give in, we will resist the Ukrainian blackmail, we will break the oil blockade and we will block all EU decisions favouring Ukraine until the settlement of the situation," the Prime Minister stressed.