Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Slovakia that Russia’s Gazprom would find alternative ways to deliver contracted gas to Slovakia after the end of transit through Ukraine, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Friday (Jan 10).
Fico met Putin in Moscow on Dec. 22 to discuss gas and the war in Ukraine after Kyiv decided not to allow Russian gas flows through Ukrainian territory from Jan 1.
Ukraine, which has grappled with a full-scale Russian invasion for nearly three years, refused to renew a transit deal with Russia as it seeks to cut revenues going to Moscow to fund the war.
Fico has threatened to take retaliatory measures against Kyiv for the transit halt as Slovakia wanted to continue receiving Russian gas through Ukraine to keep costs down and keep earning transit country revenue from onward gas shipments to Europe.
“I spoke to Putin about a contract between us and Gazprom, which says that they have to somehow deliver the gas to us,” Fico told a parliamentary committee.
“We are able to push something through the southern flow (route through Türkiye), but so far we have storage, Slovak consumption is secured.”
Fico said Putin guaranteed that Russia would meets its obligations, although capacity in the TurkStream pipeline and connecting route taking Russian gas through Türkiye to Europe was limited.
“President Putin guaranteed that they will honour their commitments,” Fico said.
