Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Fico said that the conflict had no military solution and called for a return to normal relations with Moscow once peace is achieved.
“If the war ends during the [2023-2027] mandate of this government, I'll do everything possible for the renewal of economic and standard relations with Russia,” he said.
The remarks come as Fico’s government faces pressure from the European Commission to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.
Ahead of a joint Slovak-Ukrainian cabinet meeting on Monday, Fico emphasized the importance of transit routes for his country’s energy security.
“We have an existential interest in maintaining transit routes for gas and oil through Ukraine, and we tell this to our Ukrainian partners,” Fico told reporters on Thursday.
Slovakia relies heavily on Russian energy transported via pipelines that cross Ukraine, but Kyiv has indicated it may not renew a key gas transit deal with Russia at the end of this year.
“There is huge pressure from the European Commission that nothing comes from east to west,” Fico said, referring to a push from Brussels to phase out Russian energy imports.
Earlier this year, Slovakia and Hungary had oil supplies cut after Ukraine banned supplies from Russian energy giant Lukoil from going through the country when it put the group on a sanctions list.
That disruption was resolved after Hungarian oil and gas group MOL, which owns refineries in Hungary and Slovakia, reached deals with suppliers and pipeline operators under which it took ownership of the crude oil volumes at the Belarus-Ukraine border.
