Slovak PM Robert Fico has threatened to stop exporting electricity to its war-torn neighbor if Kyiv follows up on its promise to end the delivery of Russian gas to the country. Ukraine announced this month that it will not prolong a contract that allows Russian energy giant Gazprom to use a transit pipeline through Ukrainian territory. The deal expires on December 31.
Fico’s threat came less than a week after the Slovak leader
met in Moscow with Russian president Vladimir Putin. Since then, the Russian military has doubled down on its targeting of Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, including its power grid.
Russia’s pummeling of Ukraine’s power infrastructure has reduced the country’s energy production capabilities by half since March, causing frequent blackouts and forcing Kyiv to increasingly rely on importing electricity from the EU, including Slovakia.
Almost three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Slovakia is still dependent on cheap Russian natural gas and has worked to hamper the EU’s attempts to wean off of the commodity.
Slovakia also continues to buy Russian oil flowing into the country through the Druzhba pipeline, which also runs through Ukraine, and also supplies the commodity to Hungary and the Balkans.
A separate source familiar with the situation told Bloomberg that if Fico delivers on his threat, Kyiv could also halt the
transit of Russian oil.
Slovakia’s former foreign minister Miroslav Wlachovský, who served in the technocratic government that preceded Fico’s rule, reacted to the news about Warsaw’s willingness to aid Kyiv with criticism of the current government’s approach toward Ukraine.
He wrote: “Congratulations to the geniuses of geopolitics, foreign policy and good neighborly relations: [PM Robert ] Fico, [FM Juraj] Blanár and [MEP Ľuboš] Blaha! Slovakia will have fewer friends and less money.”
