The ruling coalition and the government of Slovakia will discuss retaliatory measures against Ukraine, after the transit of Russian natural gas to Slovakia was stopped, the country’s prime minister, Robert Fico, said today (2/1).
Ficho, in a video message posted on Facebook, said his Smer party would consider cutting off electricity to Ukraine, reducing aid to Ukrainian refugees and demanding renewed transit or compensation for the losses he said Slovakia suffered due to the termination of the flow of Russian natural gas.
Russia has stopped gas exports to Europe through Ukraine
It is recalled that Russia’s state-owned company Gazprom announced on New Year’s Day that natural gas exports to Europe via Ukraine stopped as of 08:00 (Moscow time), as the transit agreement expired.
The closure of Russia’s oldest gas route to Europe ends a decade of strained relations since Russia seized Crimea in 2014.
Russia continues to export gas through the TurkStream pipeline, located under the Black Sea.
The European Union has redoubled its efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian energy after the outbreak of military conflict in Ukraine in 2022, looking for alternative sources.
The five-year gas transit agreement between Russia and Ukraine expired in the early hours of January 1, 2025, and Kiev has repeatedly said it will not extend the deal as long as the war lasts.
