CTK - Ukraine, which has been resisting widespread Russian military aggression since February 2022, has previously announced that it has no plans to extend a contract to transport Russian gas to Europe through its pipeline network.
"After the first day of January, we will consider the situation and the possibility of reciprocal measures against Ukraine. If it is unavoidable, we will stop the supply of electricity, which Ukraine urgently needs in the event of network outages, or agree on another course of action." He stated Fico in a video posted on Facebook today.
The prime minister says alternative routes would sharply increase costs and also hit Slovakia's transit profits, with the country losing half a billion euros in fees, according to Fico. He also claimed that stopping gas transit through Ukraine would hit the European Union and its competitiveness, citing estimates that the cost to the "27" could reach €120 billion over the next two years. He blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom diplomats say he had a falling out at the EU summit last week.
The Slovak prime minister also accused Zelensky of "incomprehensibly" refusing a ceasefire and thus leading the whole of Ukraine into disaster. According to Fico, Kiev's negotiating position is deteriorating by the day and Ukraine "will pay a huge price for this Western adventure in the form of loss of territory and the presence of foreign troops". He reiterated his call for peace talks and assured of Slovakia's readiness to host such negotiations.
Fico held talks in Moscow on Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, on whose orders Russian troops invaded the neighbouring country, sparking the bloodiest conflict in Europe since World War II. But Putin blames Kiev and the West, which he says dragged Russia into the war.
Fico on Sunday became only the third top EU official to visit Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow since the start of the war, Reuters noted.
The Russian president confirmed on Thursday that Slovakia, whose "neutral stance" he praised, had offered itself as a kind of "platform" for possible negotiations.
Slovakia may be a member of the European Union and NATO, but since the return to power in the autumn of 2023 of multiple Prime Minister Robert Fico, it has moved closer to Russia and is espousing the Hungarian position, AFP reported today, referring to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's contacts with Moscow. It recalled that Fico has halted state military aid to Ukraine and accused Kiev of threatening the country's supply of Russian gas, which it wishes to continue buying.
However, Slovakia has provided humanitarian aid to the attacked neighbour and is also exporting diesel and electricity to Ukraine. It exported 2.4 million megawatt-hours of electricity to Ukraine in January-November this year, a 152 percent year-on-year increase, Reuters reported.
CTK / gnews.cz-jav
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