By Yuliia Dysa
(Reuters) -Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday blasted Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico over his reluctance to end his country’s dependency on Russian gas, calling it a “big security issue” for Europe and saying Fico declined compensation.
Zelenskiy made the comments after Fico met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Sunday. Fico had accused Zelenskiy of opposing any gas transit through Ukraine to Slovakia, which is dependent on gas supplies piped in via its neighbour.
Ukraine has repeatedly said it will not extend an existing transit deal for gas flows from Russia to Europe, which expires on Jan. 1. Payments for the gas have helped Russia to wage its almost three-year war in Ukraine, Kyiv says.
The Ukrainian leader said Fico had been offered possible compensation for Slovakia for losses resulting from the expiry, as well as transit alternatives for non-Russian gas.
“Fico did not want compensation for the Slovaks,” Zelenskiy said in his evening address.
Slovakia, which has a long-term contract with Russia’s Gazprom, has said buying in gas from elsewhere would cost it 220 million euros ($229 million) more in transit expenses.
Zelenskiy gave no further details on the compensation offer but earlier on Monday said that Fico was interested only in Russian gas and that $500 million per year was at stake.
Fico said last week that Zelenskiy had offered 500 million euros, which he said had been tied to NATO membership and was from Russian assets that the Slovak leader said Ukraine did not possess.
“President (Zelenskiy) came back to the subject of gas and asked me if I would then vote for NATO membership if he gave me 500 million euros of Russian assets, and of course, I said ‘never’,” said Fico, who has opposed Ukraine’s bid for a place in the transatlantic security alliance.
SECURITY ISSUE
Slovakia has said a loss of gas supply from Russia would not hit its consumption and that it has diversified supply contracts. But it has sought to preserve the Ukraine route to keep its gas transit costs from rising and maintain its transit capacities.
Zelenskiy said Fico’s key goal was “to deal with Russia,” as it was beneficial for him.
“This is indeed a big security issue – both for Slovakia and the entire Europe. Why is this leader so dependent on Moscow?” he said.
He said Slovakia was receiving discounts from Moscow and accused it for paying for them via “murky schemes”, but gave no details or evidence.
“This should be a matter of concern for Slovakia’s law enforcement and special services,” he added.
The Slovak government office did not respond to a request for comment.
Fico said on Sunday that Putin had confirmed Russia’s willingness to continue to supply gas to Slovakia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he could not give more details.
($1 = 0.9610 euros)
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk and Jason Hovet in Prague; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Sharon Singleton and Rosalba O’Brien)
