Zelenskyy commented on the meeting between the Prime Minister of Slovakia and Putin in Moscow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on yesterdayʼs meeting between Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Putin in the Kremlin. Zelenskyy noted that they did not make any public joint statements because they are afraid of the public reaction.

The President of Ukraine wrote about this in Х.

Most likely, the topic of conversation between Fico and Putin was the agreement on the transportation of Russian gas through Ukraine to Europe, which expires at the end of December.

"Moscow provides Fico with significant discounts, but they are paid for by Slovakia. Such discounts are not free — payments to Russia are made through sovereignty or shady schemes," Zelensky wrote.

According to him, this should interest Slovak law enforcement agencies and intelligence services.

The President of Ukraine emphasized that the details of such a financing scheme were revealed during a recent meeting of European leaders in Brussels.

Then the leaders noted that the Slovak Prime Minister did not want to join joint European work to achieve energy independence or find alternatives to Russian gas.

According to the President of Ukraine, Fico, on the contrary, seeks to help Russia displace American gas and other European energy resources.

“This means that he wants to help Putin earn money to finance the war and weaken Europe,” writes Volodymyr Zelensky.

He emphasizes that Ficoʼs key goal is to deal with Russia. This is also indicated by the fact that the Slovak Prime Minister refused compensations that would ease the transition period and help get rid of dependence, meaning that for him this issue is not a security issue.

He is interested in Russian gas, which is worth $500 million a year. Other profits come from an oil pipeline that passes through Ukrainian territory and brings in another $500 million — this helps Fico, says the Ukrainian president.

What preceded

The agreement between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on the export of Russian gas to Europe through Ukrainian territory expires at the end of 2024. Therefore, Slovakia and other EU countries are starting to look for alternative sources, one of which is Azerbaijan.

Russia said it was ready to continue supplying gas through Ukraine, but because of the war, Ukraine refused to participate in negotiations with Russia on gas exports through its territories.

Slovakian company SPP said it has diversified gas purchase contracts with BP, Exxon Mobil, Shell, Eni and RWE and has up to 150% of its customersʼ consumption available as a safety cushion. SPP said Slovakia has also diversified transit supply routes in case transit via the pipeline through Ukraine is disrupted.

• Slovakia and Hungary have also had problems with Russian oil supplies this year. Babel reported on this in detail here.

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