(MENAFN) Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó on Wednesday accused Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk of “defending terrorists” following Tusk’s comments about the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

In a post on X the previous day, Tusk wrote: “The problem with Nord Stream 2 is not that it was blown up. The problem is that it was built.” The Nord Stream pipelines, which transported Russian natural gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea, were destroyed in explosions shortly after the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.

Responding online, Szijjártó condemned Tusk’s remarks, saying: “According to Donald Tusk, blowing up a gas pipeline is acceptable. That’s shocking. One thing is clear: we don’t want a Europe where prime ministers defend terrorists.”

Tusk also said Tuesday that Poland had no obligation to extradite a Ukrainian national suspected by German investigators of involvement in the sabotage. While Berlin’s prosecutors have attributed the attacks to a small group of Ukrainians, Moscow has rejected that conclusion as “ridiculous,” with Russian President Vladimir Putin claiming the United States was behind the operation.

The European Union has pledged to phase out Russian energy imports by 2027, but some member states, including Hungary and Slovakia, remain dependent on Russian oil delivered through the Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline. Recent Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities connected to the pipeline have further strained relations between Kyiv and Budapest. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has accused Ukraine of undermining his country’s energy security in retaliation for his opposition to its EU membership bid.

MENAFN09102025000045017640ID1110173267