This visit by a Western leader to Moscow, very rare, had not been officially announced. “A meeting between Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico, on a working visit to Moscow, is taking place in the Kremlin,” wrote the Russian presidency on its Telegram channel. The message is accompanied by a video in which the two men smile at each other and shake hands before sitting next to each other.
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.
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.
“Economic damage”
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitri Peskov did not want to specify the subjects on the agenda of this meeting, but declared that it could be “assumed” that the question of the transit of Russian gas would be addressed. He added that the visit had been planned “a few days ago”, in an interview made public by Russian journalist Pavel Zaroubin, close to the presidency.
Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke out against a possible transit mechanism for Russian gas purchased by Azerbaijan, one of the options considered. “If anyone is preventing the transit of gas and causing price increases and economic damage to the EU, it is Zelensky,” Robert Fico reacted on Friday, annoyed.
Recalling that his country provides humanitarian aid to Ukraine, he threatened possible “measures” to punish kyiv for its decision.
“Destruction”
Earlier on Sunday, Vladimir Putin promised even more “destruction” to Ukraine after a drone attack the day before, which Russian authorities attribute to kyiv, against buildings in Kazan, a city in central Russia located approximately 1,000 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
“Anyone who attempts to destroy anything in our country, no matter how small, will face much greater destruction in their own country and will regret what they tried to do to our country,” he said. he declared during an official ceremony.
The drones targeted residential buildings in Kazan, without causing any casualties, according to local authorities. Impressive images, which circulated on Russian social networks, showed some of these devices hitting tall glass buildings in a ball of fire. Ukraine has not commented on this operation, nor on the Russian accusations.
This country regularly carries out strikes in Russia, often against industrial targets, particularly oil targets, in response to Russian air attacks and the assault launched by the Kremlin against its territory almost three years ago. It is rarer for Ukraine to be accused of attacking apartment buildings so far from its borders.
Acceleration on the front
On the front, the Russian army is advancing rapidly, particularly in the eastern region of Donetsk, the hot spot of fighting. It has thus conquered two new villages, those of Lozova, in the Kharkiv region (north-east), and Sontsivka, in the Donetsk region, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Sunday.
Russia has accelerated its advance into eastern Ukraine in recent months, seeking to gain as much territory as possible before U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes power in January.
He promised to quickly end this conflict, without ever really explaining how he intended to proceed.
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