Hungary's state secretary for information, Tamas Menczer, said on Tuesday that Prime Minister Viktor Orban referred to a "historical fact" when he said that Hungary had been deprived of the sea, and that the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs had misunderstood his statement, MTI news agency reported.

Orban said last week that Hungary would not have problems with the EU embargo on Russian oil imports had it not been deprived of the sea, alluding to the Croatian Adriatic coast whose parts had once been part of Hungary.

This prompted the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs to summon the Hungarian ambassador in Zagreb to explain the statement.

Menczer said that Orban had referred to a “historical fact”.

“I hope that our Croatian friends won’t buy into the media hysteria and we can continue our work in the interest of developing cooperation,” he said.

It is unclear what “historical fact” Menczer meant because Hungary never had access to the sea except through Croatian territory.

Orban made the statement in the context of his opposition to the European Union embargo on Russian oil imports, which is why European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visited Hungary on Monday.

“Croatia condemns the statement by the Hungarian prime minister,” the Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said in a statement. “We condemn any territorial claims on neighbouring countries,” it added.

A European diplomat has told the French AFP news agency that in order to have secure oil supply, Hungary would need a new oil pipeline that would connect it with Croatia which has access to the sea. Budapest is therefore seeking guarantees that Zagreb will build the necessary infrastructure and guarantees of EU funding.

“Those who have a sea and ports are able to bring oil on tankers,” Orban said in a radio interview last week as quoted by Politico. “If they hadn’t taken it away from us,” he added, referring to the Dalmatian coast, once a part of the Hungarian Kingdom but now part of an independent Croatia and an EU member as well, “we would also have a port.”

The Croatian Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs said that statements like this unnecessarily affect relations between the two countries.