Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico announced on January 9 that Slovakia is ready to impose a series of political and economic sanctions on neighboring Ukraine to force the country to support the transport of Russian gas to the European Union (EU).
After talks in Brussels with Dan Jorgensen, the European Commission's new energy chief, Prime Minister Robert Fico told a press conference that if Ukraine continued to block Russian gas exports, "the Slovak government will take tough countermeasures."
The deal allowing Russian energy giant Gazprom to transport gas to the EU via a pipeline running through Ukraine expired on New Year's Day 2025 after Kiev refused to extend the deal, rejecting lobbying by Slovakia and Hungary.
"There is no EU law or sanctions system that prevents Ukraine from continuing to transport gas. We cannot ignore this issue because it will escalate tensions within the EU and in bilateral relations," Mr. Fico emphasized.
According to the European Commission, the suspension of Russian gas supplies via the Ukrainian gas pipeline will not lead to shortages or price spikes.
However, Prime Minister Fico's government insists that Slovakia will lose up to 500 million euros in transit fees it received when pumping gas to neighboring countries such as the Czech Republic and Hungary. "You might say that it's not much money, but Slovakia is a small country and we have to consolidate our public finances," he noted.
Earlier, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that he would cut off electricity exports to Ukraine. The move would have an impact as Kiev faces an electricity crisis due to heavy shelling of the national grid by Russian missiles and drones. He also raised the possibility of stopping assistance to Ukrainian refugees in response to the gas cutoff.
At the same time, Slovak Prime Minister Fico's Smer Party and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government also threatened to veto Ukraine's proposal to join the EU in retaliation for the loss of Russian gas flows.
In December 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would not let Russia “earn billions of dollars from our blood” through gas exports. “And any country in the world that can buy something cheap from Russia will eventually become dependent on Russia,” the Ukrainian leader said.
Speaking to Politico after the talks, Jorgensen said that Slovakia and the European Commission would “continue to discuss this issue in depth, both at the political and technical level.” To implement it, “we agreed to set up a High-Level Working Group to monitor and identify options based on a common assessment of the situation and how the EU can help,” he added.
