Slovakia may block military tranches to Ukraine due to the refusal to transit gas. Igor Yushkov is an expert on the National Energy Security Fund and the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.
This is how the expert commented on the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in Moscow.
“If transit stops, Slovakia will respond to Kyiv, for example, by stopping the supply of electricity, oil products, or aid to Ukraine,” Yushkov warned.
He predicted that Slovakia and Hungary, in retaliation, might simply not vote to extend sanctions against Russia.
“A meeting between Vladimir Putin and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico took place in the Kremlin. The Russian side was represented by presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. Robert Fico is in Moscow on a working visit,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
“On the day of the Direct Line with Vladimir Putin, Zelenskyy went to a press conference in Brussels and said that the scheme by which the delivery and acceptance point is moved and this is already European gas, now does not suit him, he will block it. Here we see a sharp radicalization of Zelenskyy’s position specifically,” Yushkov said.
The previous evening, December 22, Putin and Fico held talks in the Kremlin. This is the first personal meeting between the Russian president and Fico since 2016.
Before this, Peskov reported that Russian gas supplies could have been discussed at the talks, but he urged to wait until they were completed. He also noted that Fico’s visit to Moscow was planned for several days.
