Fico threatens to cut aid to Ukrainians in Slovakia
3 January 09:33
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has voiced a new threat against Ukraine because of its refusal to continue transiting Russian gas to the EU. This was reported by "Komersant Ukrainian" with reference to Yevropeiska Pravda.
In his statement, the Slovak prime minister characterized the actions of the Ukrainian side as “Zelenskyy’s sabotage.” According to his estimates, the termination of gas transit through Ukrainian territory to Slovakia will lead to enormous financial losses – about 500 million euros annually for the country’s state budget.
Fico announced the upcoming talks on this issue to be held in Brussels on Tuesday, January 7. Representatives of the Slovak government plan to discuss the situation with their European partners. Fico said that either gas transit should be resumed or Slovakia should be compensated for the loss of “almost 500 million euros of public funds.”
After the Brussels talks, the Slovak prime minister intends to hold a series of important internal meetings. First, a coalition council is planned to be convened, and then a cabinet meeting will be held to discuss possible measures in response to Ukraine’s actions.
Earlier, Fico threatened Ukraine with the cancellation of electricity exports from Slovakia. Now, the Slovak prime minister has come up with another anti-Ukrainian measure – cutting aid to Ukrainian refugees.
“On behalf of Smer-SD (Fico’s party – ed.), I announce that we are ready to negotiate and agree in a coalition to stop electricity supplies and to significantly reduce support for Ukrainian citizens staying in the territory of the Slovak Republic,”
– fico said.
It is worth noting that this is not the first step of the Slovak prime minister in this direction. He has already sent an official letter to the EU leadership expressing his dissatisfaction with the actions of the Ukrainian side and threatening to cut off electricity supplies.
As a reminder, as of January 1, 2025, Ukraine completely stopped the transit of Russian gas through its territory.
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Europe and gas
As of the beginning of 2022, the EU was 40% dependent on Russian gas. In 2021, 65% of the gas purchased by Germany was Russian. In the third quarter of 2023, only 12% of the gas imported by the EU remained Russian.
At the same time, some EU countries, such as Hungary and Slovakia, remain dependent on Russian gas. These countries’ contracts with Gazprom provide for gas supplies through the Ukrainian gas transportation system. Austria has signed a contract for gas supplies until 2040, but it has already declared that it has become independent of Russian fuel.
After both Nord Stream and the Ukrainian gas transportation system are shut down, Russia will be able to supply gas to Europe only through the Turkish Stream.
According to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, the European Union has bought 211 billion euros worth of energy from Russia.
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