Natural gas exports from Russia to Central Europe are in doubt after Ukraine decided to stop Russian energy giant Gazprom from using a crucial pipeline that runs through its territory.
On a surprising and controversial visit to the Kremlin on Sunday, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico confirmed Moscow's “readiness” to continue supplying gas to the West and Slovakia.
Russian officials said, however, that the situation was “complicated” and required attention.
In a Facebook post, Fico also criticized Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for not renewing the contract—which comes to an end on December 31—that facilitated gas deliveries.
"Russian President V. Putin confirmed the readiness of the (Russian Federation) to continue to supply gas to the West and Slovakia, which is practically impossible after Jan. 1, 2025 in view of the stance of the Ukrainian president,” he wrote.
He added that his visit to Moscow was a reaction to Zelenskyy’s refusal to prolong the use of the pipeline.
Slovakia, among other countries, is largely dependent on cheap gas from Russia and the government claims that getting it elsewhere would cost it €220 million more in transit expenses.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov described the situation with European countries that buy Russian gas as a very complicated topic that requires
increased attention, Reuters reported.
"You heard the statement from the Ukrainian side, and you know about the positions of those European countries that continue to buy Russian gas and that consider this necessary for the normal operation of their economies," Peskov told journalists.
"Therefore, there is now a very complicated situation here that requires increased attention."
Fico’s meeting with Putin is only the third by an EU government head since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and came as a shock to everyone except for top EU leaders who, it has been reported, had been notified in advance.
Politicians from the Slovak opposition called it a “disgrace.”
Fico criticizes nuclear sanctions
Slovakia’s populist prime minister—who came into power in 2023—also criticized Zelenskyy for supporting “sanctions against Russia’s nuclear program.”
“With such attitudes,” Fico wrote in his Facebook post, “he is harming Slovakia financially and endangering the production of electricity in nuclear power plants in Slovakia, which is unacceptable.”
Other countries reliant on Russian gas have had mixed success in finding a way to deal with the fallout of Zelenskyy’s decision to turn off the tap on Russian gas.
Hungary, which has also been keen to keep the Ukrainian route, is set to continue receiving Russian gas from the south via the TurkStream pipeline on the bed of the Black Sea.
Transnistria, a tiny separatist region in Moldova—which uses Russian gas to power a key plant—has so far been unable to find a replacement source. Its plant supplies the whole of Moldova with most of its electricity.
Both Moldova and the separatist region have declared a state of national emergency as a result.
