Russian President Vladimir Putin received Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico at the Kremlin on Sunday, December 22, one of the only European leaders to have remained close to him, announced the Russian presidency, while Ukraine plans to end on January 1 to the contract allowing Russian natural gas to transit through its territory, Russian media report. This visit by a Western leader to Moscow, very rare, had not been officially announced.
Robert Fico, who has again led the government of Slovakia, a member country of the EU and NATO, since the fall of 2023, has decided to stop all military aid to Ukraine and is calling for peace talks. He also accuses kyiv of endangering his country's supply of Russian gas, on which it is very dependent.
Access to Russian gas is crucial for Slovakia due to its landlocked situation and Robert Fico, known to be close to Russia, has not spared his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, without succeeding in influencing the latter. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency that the two leaders would not make a joint statement after their meeting, which he said was organized ” a few days ago ».
Zelensky against Russian gas transit through Azerbaijan
Ukraine announced last summer that it would not renew the contract binding it to Russia until the end of the year to transport Russian gas to Europe via its extensive network of gas pipelines. In recent weeks, Slovakia and Hungary have complained that the tap will be completely turned off by December 31, with no real credible alternative.
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