Slovakia's populist Prime Minister and pro-Trump ally Robert Fico has drawn an unexpectedly hard line in his country's ongoing energy showdown with Ukraine:restore Russian oil flows, or else a key emergency electricity lifeline for Ukraine gets pulled.
In a weekend post on X, Fico warned that unless Ukraine resumes pumping Russian crude to Slovakia by Monday, Bratislavawill cut off its emergency power exports. This is an immense threat given current frigid subzero temperatures in war-ravaged Ukraine.
"If the West does not mind that the Nord Stream gas pipeline was blown up,Slovakia cannot accept Slovak-Ukrainian relations as a one-way ticket benefiting only Ukraine," he wrote, in a pointed swipe at Brussels and Washington alike.
Fico went on to blast Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, saying: "The Ukrainian president refuses to understand our peace-oriented approach and, because we do not support the war, he isbehaving maliciously toward Slovakia."
The pipeline in question has been offline for nearly a month, as we've reported previously:Russian Oil To Slovakia Via Damaged Druzhba Pipeline Still Halted As Accusations Fly. Kiev has alleged it was initially damaged in a Russian drone strike, and the whole incident and showdown has quickly snowballed into a broader inter-EU fight. According to morebackground:
Transit through Druzhba has been halted since 27 January,with Hungary and Slovakia stopping diesel exports to Ukraine earlier this week until Ukraine resumes transit. Despite requests from both the Hungarian and Slovak governments,the European Commission said it willnot apply pressureon Ukraine to restore transit.
Kyiv reacted sharply to the coordinated pressure from Budapest and Bratislava, accusing both governments of ‘ultimatums and blackmail’ and claiming their actions were ‘provocative’ and ‘irresponsible’.
In a statement, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry argued that Hungary and Slovakia were‘playing into the hands of the aggressor’ and threatening regional energy security, while insisting that ongoing Russian strikes and technical damage justified the disruption of transit.
Hungary has actually stood by Fico's criticisms, with the rest of the EU supporting the Ukrainian version of events. For example, earlier this month, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto suggested Kiev was responsible for blocking electricity supplies for the operation of the pipeline.
Just one day earlier to Fico issuing his ultimatum, Hungary signaled itwould block a €90 billion emergency loan package for Ukraine over the same pipeline dispute, which Slovakia in turn now says it will back.
Source: ZeroHedge News
