Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is threatening retaliatory measures against Ukraine if Kyiv stops Russian gas transit to Slovakia as of Jan. 1.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week said his government “would not prolong the transit of Russian gas” once the current contract expires at the end of this year. Zelenskyy accused Fico of helping Russian President Vladimir Putin finance his invasion of Ukraine through purchases of natural gas from Russia.“After Jan. 1, we will consider the situation and the possibility of reciprocal measures against Ukraine,” Fico said in a video posted on Facebook Friday. ” If it is unavoidable, we will stop the supply of electricity, which Ukraine urgently needs in the event of grid failures,” he said.Fico said that the end of the Russian gas transit will drive up costs for the EU and hit the bloc’s competitiveness. It would also increase energy prices in Slovakia, he said.“But who cares about Slovakia, right, Mr. Zelenskyy? But when you need something to keep you from freezing in the winter, you scream in frustration,” Fico hit out at the Ukrainian leader.Kyiv has refused to renew a transit deal with Russian state energy giant Gazprom that allows Moscow to ship supplies of natural gas through its network of pipelines to countries like Slovakia and Hungary. Putin also has said he expects the contract to come to an end.Ukraine has instead offered its own domestic gas production as an alternative for its neighbors.Slovakia and Hungary, led by the Russia-friendly Fico and Viktor Orbán, have been for months trying to convince Kyiv to renew the gas deal, signed between Russia and Ukraine in 2019. The two countries argue that the end of the deal would threaten their security of supply and could hike energy prices in the depths of winter. They have asked the European Commission to support their efforts. The EU has ruled out helping negotiate an extension.Fico met with Putin in Moscow in a surprise visit over the Christmas holidays to discuss gas supplies, prompting Zelenskyy to charge the Slovakian leader with weakening Europe by helping Putin. A senior adviser to Zelenskyy told POLITICO last week that Kyiv estimates Slovakia earns around half a billion dollars a year from access to discounted Russian gas.Since coming into the office last year, Fico has emerged as an advocate for Putin and for Russia within the European Union, vowing to block Ukraine from joining NATO and refusing to send “another bullet” of state military aid to Kyiv.
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