The ministry said that air patrols and a heightened ground presence now protect the Hungarian section of the pipeline, with involvement from six units of Hungary’s armed forces, local outlet Index reported. The government added Hungary is “constantly informing NATO through the appropriate channels.”
The move came after explosives were found near the pipeline on the Serbia-Hungary border. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said April 5 that explosive devices, two large packages with detonators, were discovered in the municipality of Kanjiža near infrastructure linking Serbia and Hungary.
Orban visited the Serbia-Hungary border earlier on April 6 to inspect the pipeline and chaired a Security Council meeting. Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, suggested Ukraine might be involved, claiming the incident “fits a pattern” of attempts to disrupt Russian gas and oil deliveries to Hungary.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi rejected any Ukrainian role and said Kyiv had no connection to the incident. Tykhyi added that Russia could be responsible, calling the incident a likely Russian false-flag operation aimed at interfering in Hungary’s April 12 elections.
Also on April 6 Serbian officials said Ukraine was not behind placing the explosives.