(MENAFN) Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto accused Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk of “defending terrorists” following remarks about the Nord Stream gas pipeline sabotage, according to reports.

Tusk had stated the previous day on X that “the problem with North Stream 2 is not that it was blown up. The problem is that it was built.” The pipelines, which transported Russian natural gas to Germany along the Baltic Sea floor, were destroyed shortly after the Ukraine conflict intensified in 2022.

Szijjarto criticized Tusk’s comments, questioning what else the Polish prime minister might consider “forgivable or even praiseworthy.”

“According to Donald Tusk, blowing up a gas pipeline is acceptable,” he wrote. “That’s shocking… One thing is clear: we don’t want a Europe where prime ministers defend terrorists,” he added.

Tusk also argued that it is not in Poland’s interest to extradite a Ukrainian man whom German investigators believe was involved in the sabotage. While Berlin prosecutors have linked the attack to a small group of Ukrainian nationals, Moscow dismissed the claims as “ridiculous,” and Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the US may have carried out the operation.

The EU has called for a full cessation of Russian energy imports by 2027, but certain member states, including Slovakia and Hungary, continue to rely on Russian crude delivered via the Soviet-era Druzhba oil pipeline. Recent Ukrainian operations targeting Russian energy networks connected to the pipeline have heightened tensions between Kiev and Budapest. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has accused Ukraine of attempting to undermine Hungary’s energy security due to his opposition to Ukraine’s EU accession.

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