The fact that he has chosen to move in a completely opposite direction from the rest wanted to emphasize once again by the Prime Minister of Slovakia, who not only missed the opportunity to go to the occasion of the celebrations of the anniversary of the victory in the second World War, but the World War II, He reiterated his intention to normalize relations with Russia and for the purchase of Russian gas.
Fitso binds his country to Moscow chariot
The meeting with Fitso did not give the Russian president only the space to prove once again that he continues to influence through the energy of some parts of the Union, but also enabled him to insist on basic Russian narratives about the War of Ukraine and his role.
More specifically, as the Slovak prime minister said: “I would like to openly state that we are particularly interested in normalizing relations between the Slovak Republic and the Russian Federation. Let’s go back to what was common for countries in terms of economic cooperation. I would like to thank you for the safe and regular supply of natural gas we receive through Turkstream. “
Turkstream remains the only pipeline carrying Russian gas to Europe after explosions in the Nord Stream pipelines in September 2022, and as Ukraine crossing on January 1st.
Slovakia has so far introduced about 1.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas through Hungary, which is its most direct connection to the Turkstream pipeline, according to data from the Slovak Transit Company Eustream.
A project is currently underway to increase the cross -border gas flow capacity from Hungary to Slovakia, including natural gas from the Turkstream pipeline, at 4.4 BCM from 3.5 BCM.
Meanwhile, Fitso said Slovakia has rebooted a visa to Russian citizens, a service suspended after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
He said Slovakia is also interested in Russian companies that may be involved in a new nuclear plant, a project that the government intends to grant to the US company Westinghouse.
Putin used the meeting to promote Russian narratives about Ukraine
For his part, Putin used the meeting for completely different reasons. Specifically, in his statements, Putin argued that Moscow never opposed Ukraine’s possible accession to the European Union and rejected allegations that Moscow was planning to attack Europe.
According to Reuters, he argued that with NATO’s expansion to the east, the alliance wanted to absorb the entire post -Soviet space and Russia simply had to defend its interests. He also reiterated that Ukraine’s accession to NATO would be unacceptable to Russia.
Finally, the Russian president seemed to thank Fitsos for his attitude, arguing that “Russia is particularly appreciated by the independent foreign policy you and your team, your government.”
