Putin pledged to supply Russian gas to Slovakia despite Ukraine’s “block”

Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Ficho, announced today (10.01,2025) that the Russian President pledged to provide Russian to his country, despite stopping its transit through Ukraine on 31 December 2024. In particular, Putin told Fitzo that Russian company Gazprom will find alternative ways to distribute gas through a contract in Slovakia, after Ukraine’s decision not to allow Russian gas to flow through Ukrainian territory from 1 January. CORVERSE Ficho has threatened to take compensatory measures against Kiev as Slovakia wants to continue to take Russian gas through Ukraine in order to maintain low costs and continue to receive revenues as a transit country of gas cargo further to Europe. “I spoke to Putin about a contract between us and Gazprom, which says they ought somehow to distribute our gas,” Ficho told a parliamentary committee. CORVERSE Slovakia and Russian gas “We can push something [some amount of gas] through the southern flow (the route through Turkey), but so far we have storage, Slovak consumption is secured,” he added afterwards. Ficho met with Putin in Moscow on 22 December to discuss the issue of gas and war in Ukraine and the Slovak Prime Minister said Russia would fulfil its obligations. “ President Putin guaranteed that they would keep their commitments. A place could be distributed through western Europe,” he said although the capacity of the TurkStream pipeline and the interconnection route that carries Russian gas through Turkey to Europe is limited. Sputnik/Gavril Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS Zelensky’s attitude Ficho has said that Europe suffered losses of many billion euros from the increase in gas prices caused by the absence of around 13.5 billion cubic meters of gas that flowed through Ukraine last year, including around 3 billion cubic metres of gas for Slovak consumption. Ficho said that an agreement was close to continuing transport through Ukraine with Russian gas changing ownership before entering Ukraine under an agreement that would include Azerbaijan or Slovak gas import company SPP, but Ukrainian president, Volontim Zelenski, rejected any expansion of gas flow through Ukraine at the EU summit in December. Ukraine’s foreign ministry responded today (10.01.2025) to Slovakia’s recent criticisms of the end of the transport of Russian gas through the country, saying that the problem lies in Russia and the unwillingness of “some politicians” to stop their dependence on Moscow.