Chairman of the Hlas-SD coalition and Minister of the Interior, Matúš Šutaj Eštok criticizes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for his statements that Slovakia is to blame for gas problems. He instructs him that he should first of all strive for peace, not attack a neighboring country that has been helping him since the beginning of the war conflict. TASR was informed about this by the Hlasu-SD press department.
“President Zelensky should focus on the very complicated situation in his country and not attack a neighbor who has been helping him since the beginning of the war. I ask him to do everything in the name of the citizens of Ukraine to start peace negotiations,” states Šutaj Eštok, declaring that Slovakia will be on his side during these negotiations.
Šutaj Eštok talks about Zelenský’s unflattering statements to Slovakia. He does not understand the “senseless and untrue attacks” by the president of Ukraine, which Slovakia selflessly helped with hundreds of millions of euros.
He reminds that it was the citizens of Slovakia who helped Ukraine and showed the fleeing Ukrainians what Slovak solidarity means. “Slovak citizens’ taxes went to help Ukraine. And it is these citizens of Slovakia who will have more expensive gas and more expensive food because of President Zelensky’s pointless stoppage of Russian gas,” pointed out Šutaj Eštok.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi criticized Fico on Sunday (January 12) evening on the X social network in connection with his recent visit to Moscow. According to him, Kyiv wanted to help Slovakia even before the gas transit through Ukraine stopped, but Fico “arrogantly rejected” this offer, despite the warnings of many European politicians. However, the problem, according to him, lies in the fact that he bet on Moscow, and not on his country or a united Europe.
At the end of 2024, the contract on the transit of Russian natural gas through the territory of Ukraine expired. Kyiv decided not to extend the contract. Fico previously warned several times about the loss of half a billion euros a year for Slovakia and calculated the financial burden for the European Union as a whole at 60 to 70 billion euros.
