Vladimir Putin promised Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico that Russiaʼs Gazprom would find new routes to supply gas to Bratislava after transit through Ukraine was stopped.
Reuters reports this.
According to the publication, Fico met with Putin in Moscow on December 22, 2024, to discuss Kyivʼs decision to stop the transit of Russian gas through its territory from January 1.
"I spoke with Putin about the contract between us and Gazprom, which says that they [the Russian side] must somehow supply us with gas. We can push [the gas] through the Turkish Stream. But for now, we have storage facilities, Slovak consumption is secured," Fico said at a parliamentary committee meeting.
He assured that Putin guaranteed that Russia would fulfill its obligations, despite the limited capacity of the TurkStream gas pipeline and the connecting route transporting Russian gas through Turkey to Europe.
Some of the raw materials could be supplied via Western Europe, the Slovak prime minister said. He was referring to pipeline connections between Slovakia and the gas networks of its Central and Western European neighbors.
The termination of the gas deal between Ukraine and Russia has not caused a fuel shortage in Europe, the publication writes. EU leaders said there was no need to extend the contract, as alternative sources of supply are available to countries that receive Russian gas.
Russian gas supplies to Slovakia
The agreement between Russia and Ukraine on the export of Russian gas to Europe through Ukrainian territory expired on January 1, 2025. Therefore, Slovakia and other EU countries are starting to look for alternative sources, one of which was 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.
Fico threatened to limit aid to Ukraine and stop supplying it with electricity due to the halt in the transit of raw materials.
Later, Slovakiaʼs state electricity grid operator SEPS assured that it would continue to supply electricity to Ukraine for emergency assistance needs.
- Slovakia and Hungary have also had problems with Russian oil supplies this year. Babel reported on this in detail here.
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