"Okay. Come to Kyiv on Friday."
22 January 2025
Early this year, Slovak prime minister Robert Fico invited Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy to Bratislava to discuss the halted transit of Russian gas through Ukraine to Slovakia. Zelenskiy's direct counter-invite probably wasn't the response he expected since he has been avoiding visiting Kyiv since the beginning of the war. After all, Fico already discussed the same issue with Putin during his controversial visit to Moscow in December.
Zelenskiy's "Come to Kyiv on Friday." response became an invite for the Slovak opposition leader Michal Šimečka instead. "Friday. Expected one Slovak leader, but met another. I had a good meeting with Slovak parliamentarians, led by @MSimecka", Zelenskiy posted on X. The main agenda of the meeting was to reopen cooperation between the two countries on gas and energy supply.
 | Tamara Kanuchova Fico claimed Slovakia was allegedly set to lose €500 million on transit fees by stopping the gas stream in 2025. The Slovak company Eustream, a.s. was nowhere near this number even during the best-performing years, and with no income in 2024. The transit is dependent on the system connected to all neighbouring countries. "It is not only related to the stoppage of the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine, as the prime minister says, but mainly to the reluctance of our neighbours to continue taking natural gas from Russia. When there is no customer at the end, there is no transport," explained energy management expert Vlastimil Mazal to The European Correspondent. In the meantime, Fico faces rising criticism at home. On Tuesday, he sabotaged an attempt at a no-confidence vote towards his government and left for a meeting with his friend, the Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, and later in the evening, continued to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum. |
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