Ukraine president’s criticism comes as Kyiv is expected to stop transit of Russian gas to Slovakia as planned on January 1.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico of opening a “second energy front” against Kyiv on the orders of Moscow, deepening an already tense dispute over transfers of Russian gas to Europe.
Ukraine pumps Russian natural gas through its territory to several European countries, including Slovakia, Moldova and Hungary.
But it is expected to halt the flow when an existing transit deal, which was signed before Russia invaded 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 reciprocal measures against Ukraine – such as halting back-up electricity supplies – if Kyiv cuts off the transfers as of January 1.
“It appears that Putin gave Fico the order to open the second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the Slovak people’s interests,” Zelenskyy wrote in a social media post on Saturday.
It appears that Putin gave Fico the order to open the second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the Slovak people’s interests. Fico’s threats to cut off Ukraine’s emergency power supply this winter while Russia attacks our power plants and energy grid can only be…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 28, 2024
“Fico’s threats to cut off Ukraine’s emergency power supply this winter while Russia attacks our power plants and energy grid can only be explained by this,” he said, adding that Fico was “dragging Slovakia into Russia’s attempts to cause more suffering for Ukrainians”.
Slovakia wants to maintain Russian gas supplies via Ukraine, saying alternative routes would hike costs and harm its transit operations while causing the country to lose 500 million euros ($521m) in fees.
Kyiv has said it will not sign any new deal for gas transit with Moscow as the war between the two countries drags on.
The Ukrainian government has been forced to import electricity from several of its neighbours since Russia began hitting its power grid in late 2022, damaging or destroying much of the country’s non-nuclear generation capacity.
Russian gas accounted for less than 10 percent of the European Union’s gas imports in 2023. In 2021, a year before the Ukraine invasion began, it made up more than 40 percent.
However, EU members in Eastern Europe still depend largely on Russian gas for geographical and political reasons.
Zelenskyy said Slovakia currently accounted for 19 percent of Ukraine’s power imports, and that Kyiv was working with its EU neighbours to bolster the supply.
“Slovakia is part of the single European energy market and Fico must respect common European rules,” the Ukrainian president said on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Slovakia’s prime minister said on Friday his country could serve as a meeting place for possible talks on ending the war in Ukraine.
Fico is one of only a handful of European leaders who have remained close to the Kremlin, and his meeting with Putin in Moscow on December 22 provoked an angry reaction from Ukraine.
“If anyone turns to us and is interested in organising peace talks in Slovakia about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, they can count on our hospitality,” Fico said in a video message published on Facebook.
Fico said he had discussed the proposal with Putin during his surprise visit to the Russian capital and was pleased with the positive reaction.
