(ANSA) - BELGRADE, FEB 25 - Hungary and Serbia are accelerating the construction of an oil pipeline connecting the two countries, as well as Slovakia, to make them "resistant to blackmail from Ukraine," Hungarian Foreign and Trade Minister Peter Szijjarto stated on Facebook, as cited by the Hungarian news agency MTI. Szijjarto and Serbian Minister of Energy and Mines Dubravka Djedović Handanović met in Washington yesterday to attend an international conference on energy cooperation between the US and Eastern European countries. After the talks, Szijjarto stated that they agreed to accelerate preparatory work for the construction of the pipeline between the two countries, which would replace the unsafe flow of oil from Russia via the Druzhba pipeline, which has been blocked, sparking the standoff between Budapest and Bratislava with Kiev. "The new transport route will significantly improve the security of our countries' oil supplies," he said. He also stated that once the Hungarian state oil company MOL completes the deal to purchase Serbia's NIS, acquiring Gazprom's majority stake, the oil markets of the three landlocked countries of Slovakia, Hungary, and Serbia will be coordinated. "This will strengthen our resistance to Ukrainian-style political blackmail. We will, of course, provide MOL with all possible assistance in this matter," Szijjarto added. According to the pro-government Serbian newspaper Politika, the Hungarian minister in Washington has addressed the Trump administration, denouncing "attempts at political blackmail by Ukraine, which has blocked Russian oil supplies through the Druzhba pipeline, while Kiev claims that the pipeline is out of order due to repeated Russian attacks." (ANSA).