Slovakia will discuss retaliation after “sabotage” of gas transit in Ukraine, says Fico

By Jan Lopatka

(Reuters) – Slovakia’s coalition government will discuss retaliatory measures to take against Ukraine after it stopped the flow of Russian gas through its territory to Slovakia, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Thursday.

Fico said in a video message posted on Facebook that his Smer party would consider cutting off electricity supplies to Ukraine, reducing aid to Ukrainian refugees and demanding the renewal of gas transits or compensation for losses he said Slovakia had suffered due to the end of Russian gas. flows.

Russian gas exports via Soviet-era pipelines through Ukraine halted on New Year’s Day, marking the end of decades of Moscow’s dominance over Europe’s energy markets, when a transit contract between Russia and Ukraine expired. .

Slovakia has alternative gas supplies, but Fico, which has ended military aid to Ukraine and sought warmer relations with Moscow, says Slovakia will lose its own transit revenue and pay additional transit fees to bring in non-Russian gas. He has also said that European gas and energy prices would rise as a result of Ukraine’s actions.

Fico said a Slovak delegation would discuss the situation in Brussels next Tuesday and then its ruling coalition would discuss retaliation for what he called “sabotage” by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

“I declare that (my Smer-SSD party) is ready to discuss and agree in the coalition on the cessation of electricity supplies and a significant reduction in support for Ukrainian citizens in Slovakia,” Fico said.

“The only alternative for a sovereign Slovakia is to renew transit or demand compensation mechanisms that replace the loss of almost 500 million euros in public finances.”

Zelenskiy accused Fico last week of opening a “second energy front” against Ukraine on Russia’s orders.

Slovakia’s gas transit network operator Eustream, majority owned by the state, had revenues of €158 million and a profit after tax of €25 million in the six months to January 31 of the year. past, the last period it reported on its website.

Slovak state gas importer SPP, which covers around two-thirds of Slovak demand, said on Wednesday it would face around 90 million euros in additional costs, mainly in transit fees, if it replaced all Russian gas this year.

Slovakia, Ukraine’s neighbor to the east, exported 2.4 million megawatt hours of electricity in the first 11 months of 2024 to Ukraine, which has suffered shortages due to Russian bombing, according to data from the Slovak grid operator.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by Gareth Jones and Hugh Lawson)