The Ukrainian president’s criticism comes at a time when Kiev is expected to stop transporting Russian gas to Slovakia as planned on January 1.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico of opening a “second energy front” against Kiev on orders from Moscow, deepening an already tense dispute over the transportation of Russian gas to Europe.
Ukraine pumps Russian natural gas through its territory to several European countries, including Slovakia, Moldova, and Hungary.
But the flow is expected to halt when the current transit agreement, signed before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, expires at the end of the year.
Fico, who visited Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow earlier this week, said on Friday that Slovakia would consider taking reciprocal measures against Ukraine – such as cutting off backup electricity supplies – if Kiev halts transfers from January 1.
“Putin appears to have given Fico the order to open a second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the interests of the Slovak people,” Zelensky wrote in a social media post on Saturday.
It seems that Putin gave Fico the order to open a second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the interests of the Slovak people. Fico’s threats to cut off emergency power supplies to Ukraine this winter while Russia attacks power plants and our energy grid can only be…
— Volodymyr Zelensky / Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) December 28, 2024
“Fico’s threats to cut off emergency energy supplies to Ukraine this winter while Russia attacks power plants and our energy grid can only be explained by this,” he said, adding that Fico was “dragging Slovakia into Russia’s attempts to cause more suffering to Ukrainians.”
Slovakia wants to preserve Russian gas supplies through Ukraine, saying alternative routes would increase costs and hurt transportation operations while causing the country to lose 500 million euros ($521 million) in duties.
Kiev said it would not sign any new gas transfer agreement with Moscow as the war between the two countries continues.
The Ukrainian government has been forced to import electricity from many of its neighbors since Russia began striking its power grid in late 2022, damaging or destroying much of the country’s non-nuclear generating capacity.
Russian gas represented less than 10% of European Union gas imports in 2023. In 2021, a year before the start of the Ukrainian invasion, it represented more than 40%.
However, EU members in Eastern Europe remain largely dependent on Russian gas for geopolitical reasons.
Zelensky said that Slovakia currently represents 19 percent of Ukraine’s energy imports, and that Kiev is working with its neighbors in the European Union to boost supplies.
“Slovakia is part of the single European energy market and FICO must respect common European rules,” the Ukrainian president said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Prime Minister of Slovakia said on Friday that his country could serve as a meeting place for possible talks on ending the war in Ukraine.
Fico is one of the few European leaders who has remained close to the Kremlin, and his meeting with Putin in Moscow on December 22 sparked angry reactions from Ukraine.
“If anyone turns to us and is interested in organizing peace talks in Slovakia on the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, he can count on our hospitality,” Fico said in a video message posted on Facebook.
Fico said that he discussed the proposal with Putin during his surprise visit to the Russian capital, and that he was happy with the positive reaction.
