It's a handshake worth 500 million euros. The Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, made a surprise visit to Russia on Sunday, December 22, where he met Vladimir Putin. He is only the second leader of a European Union country to make this trip since the start of the Russian offensive against Ukraine. His predecessor was Viktor Orban. And just like his Hungarian counterpart, Robert Fico mainly came to Russia to talk about gas.
Bratislava and Budapest remain major customers of Russian gas, which they obtain at advantageous prices. This gas arrives via a Soviet-era gas pipeline, called “Brotherhood”. It crosses Ukraine to the Slovak border. It still transports 15 billion cubic meters per year to Italy, Austria, Hungary and Slovakia. These purchases are not covered by European Union sanctions. Slovakia benefits from significant royalties for the transit of this gas (around 500 million euros per year).
The end of transit through Ukraine
However, from January 1, Ukraine will put an end to the passage of Russian gas through its territory. “We will no longer let Russia make money from our blood,” justified President Volodymyr Zelensky. It may seem surprising that Ukraine waited so long. kyiv explains this by the fact that its gas company was bound by contract and risked heavy penalties.
This contract expires on December 31 and will not be renewed. So, for weeks, Slovakia and Hungary have been trying to get Ukraine to reverse its decision. Like Viktor Orban, Robert Fico defends the idea of lifting European sanctions against Russia in the name of his national interests. On Friday, he accused Ukraine of “causing price increases and economic damage to the European Union”.
Slovakia and Hungary still hope to convince Brussels to put pressure on Ukraine to renew the contract. The European Commission does not seem very receptive. She judges that there are alternative solutions for Slovakia to be supplied.
“Crawl in front of a murderer”
The subject still occupied part of the European Council on December 18 in Brussels, attended by the Ukrainian president. Robert Fico proposed that gas be purchased from Azerbaijan instead, to avoid payments to Russia. But Volodymyr Zelensky refused. “We will only be able to accept the resumption of transit if we have the guarantee that this gas has not been purchased previously from Russia, or if the income from the purchase is placed in a blocked account until the end of war”, proposed the Ukrainian president.
To try to save his access to Russian gas, Robert Fico therefore went to the Kremlin as soon as the European Council ended. At the end of his meeting with Vladimir Putin, he said: “Russia is ready to continue supplying us with gas. » But he has not said how he plans to transport it to his country.
And its activism to preserve its gas revenues is starting to annoy a certain number of neighboring countries. The Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jan Lipavsky, recalled, commenting on Robert Fico's trip: “The Czech Republic has taken steps to reduce its energy dependence so that it does not have to grovel in front of a murderer. »
