Fico meets with Putin to discuss gas supply
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Sunday flew to Moscow where he met with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.
That’s according to Radio Svoboda, Ukrinform reports.
Earlier, the Slovak Prime Minister said he could visit Moscow in the near future to discuss the supply of Russian gas to Slovakia amid reports that Ukraine intends to put gas transit to a halt on January 1.
The Kremlin never formally announced Fico's visit.
It is noted that this is the first visit of the Slovak leader to Moscow after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
After February 2022, Western politicians, especially heads of state, have visited Russia extremely rarely.
Only the Austrian Chancellor and Fico's political ally, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, have been to Moscow in the past three years.
Earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said Budapest was negotiating with Russia and Ukraine to maintain gas supplies even though Russian gas is imported through the TurkStream pipeline.
As reported, Energy Minister German Galushchenko of Ukraine said during the German-Ukrainian Business Forum in Berlin that Ukraine had long been carefully preparing for the cessation of Russian gas transit, including resistance-testing its gas transmission system.
This year, the contract for the transit of Russian gas via Ukraine, which was signed between Naftogaz of Ukraine and Gazprom, expires. Ukraine’s position on the issue remains unwavering: there will be no new agreement with the aggressor state.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine was ready to ensure transit to European countries if gas is not of Russian origin.