Slovakia threatens to stop aid to Ukrainian refugees

Slovak PM discusses retaliatory measures against Ukraine over gas transit disruption

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said his government had discussed countermeasures against Ukraine after Kyiv shut down a pipeline supplying Russian natural gas to Central Europe.

As part of the retaliation against Kyiv for its decision to cut off the transit of Russian gas to Slovakia via Ukrainian territory, he also threatened to cut financial aid to the more than 130,000 Ukrainian refugees living in the country^[1].

In a video message posted on Facebook, Fico said that his Smer party would also consider cutting off electricity supplies to Ukraine and demanding the resumption of gas transit or compensation for the financial losses he said Slovakia had suffered.

8 December. The United Nations Refugee Agency estimates that there were 130 532 Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia, the vast majority of whom had crossed the common border between the two countries directly.

Slovakia has been trying for months to reach an agreement with Ukraine not to stop the transfer of gas

Exports of Russian gas flowing through Ukraine via a Soviet-era pipeline were halted on New Year's Day after Kyiv said it would not renew a five-year transit agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom, which was concluded in 2019.

Slovakia has spent months persuading Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky to renew an agreement to keep Europe supplied with cheap Russian gas^[2].

V. Zelensky has refused to renew the agreement, which has led to growing tensions between the two countries in recent weeks. The Ukrainian leader has argued that he will not allow the aggressor country to "make additional billions from the blood of Ukrainians".

Fico retorted that stopping Russian gas supplies would increase gas and electricity prices in Europe and ultimately hurt the European Union more than Russia.

He added that Slovakia itself would not be affected by the interruption as it had concluded additional agreements but that Ukraine's decision to interrupt the transit of Russian gas would still cost Bratislava around €500 million.

Slovakia signed a short-term pilot contract last year to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan, and an agreement to import US-liquefied natural gas via Poland. It can also receive gas through Austrian, Hungarian and Czech pipelines.

However, Fico argued that the deal would cost the EU €120 billion over the next two years.

Officials in Moldova, which is not a member of the European Union, declared a state of emergency in December due to severe gas shortages, while the Transnistrian region greeted 1 January with switched-off central heating^[3].

The European Commission has said that Europe is ready for change and that most countries can do without Russian natural resources.

"We expect that the end of transit through Ukraine will not have a major impact on the EU's security of gas supply. The 14 billion cubic meters of gas per year that have been transited through Ukraine so far can be completely replaced by liquefied natural gas and imports via alternative routes," a European Commission spokesman told Euronews in December.

Mr Fico, who has long enjoyed friendly relations with Moscow, visited Russian President Vladimir Putin last month to discuss gas supplies. He also threatened to suspend electricity supplies to Kyiv, on which the war-torn country is heavily dependent.

At the time, Poland said it would be ready to increase its energy exports to Ukraine to compensate for possible losses in Slovakia.

V. Zelensky accused Fico of helping Putin to "finance the war and weaken Ukraine". Last week, the Ukrainian leader said that Fico's efforts to extend the agreement amounted to opening a "second energy front" against Ukraine.

Slovak operator promises not to interrupt electricity supply

Slovak electricity grid operator SEPS has assured that electricity exports to Ukraine will not be suspended despite threats by Prime Minister Fico, DW reported.

Slovak state-owned electricity grid operator SEPS stressed on Friday, 3 January, in a commentary to Czech news agency CTK, that electricity supplies to Ukraine will not be stopped and that SEPS will respect the contracts concluded with Ukrenergo.

Incidentally, Fico wrote a letter to the President of the European Council, António Costi, and to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, complaining again about Ukraine's refusal to extend the transit of Russian gas beyond 2024^[4].

Prime Minister has fallen foul of the left: demonstration against Fico in Bratislava

With the slogan "Slovakia is Europe! - We have had enough of Russia!" Pro-Ukrainian Slovaks staged a demonstration against Prime Minister Fico in Bratislava last Friday.

The protest in front of the Government House was called by the citizens' initiative "Mier Ukrainy" ("Peace for Ukraine"), which advocates the supply of arms to Kyiv. According to Slovak media, representatives of the initiative said that around 4,000 people attended the rally.

Demonstrators carried placards distributed by the Citizens' Initiative with the words "Treason!" and on the other side, "We are Europe!" Some brought homemade placards with anti-Fico slogans such as "Fico, move to Moscow!".