Bratislava (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Slovak PM Robert Fico stated that the cessation of Russian gas transit via Ukraine would have a negative effect on the EU but not on Moscow.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico expressed that the European Union will allegedly “suffer” because of the termination of Russian gas transit through Ukraine. Fico announced a “two-track policy” for 2025, concentrated on all sides of the world.
The leader of Slovakia pointed out that, according to world politics,
“it doesn’t matter whether elephants love each other or quarrel; the grass always suffers.”
However, he does not want Slovakia to suffer the kind of “grass” that Bratislava is seeing after the termination of Russian gas transit through Ukraine.
“…which will have dramatic consequences for all of us in the European Union, but not for the Russian Federation,”
Fico said.
The Slovakian prime minister stated that in 2025 will resume a “two-track policy” that will be oriented towards all flanks of the world and will respect international regulation and not meddle in the internal affairs of others.
How might Slovakia respond to Ukraine’s transit decision?
Earlier, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico stated that his government is mulling retaliatory action against Ukraine after it resolved to stop transit from 1 January 2025 onward. On December 27, 2024, he threatened Ukraine with the termination of electricity exports since the latter considerably relies on importing energy from the EU amidst its existing war. He added that if Ukraine goes ahead with the so-called plan, it may prompt Slovakia to suspend some critical backup electricity supplies in case of a grid outage.
The stance has not gone well with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who accused Fico of being aligned with Russian interests and warned that such actions would worsen Ukraine’s energy crisis while badly affecting Slovakia’s relations within the European community.
