Fico said in the video:
After January 1, we will examine the situation and assess the possibility of retaliating for Ukraine. If unavoidable, we will stop supplying electricity to Ukraine or take some other measure.
Slovakia threatened to stop electricity exports to Ukraine already in the summer, when the Ukrainians sanctioned Lukoil’s shipments of Russian crude oil, but in the end this did not happen because the situation was settled. It is worth knowing that by far the largest share of electricity exports to Ukraine from neighboring countries goes from Hungary, Slovakia’s weight is small, but at the same time, the Ukrainian electricity system, which is seriously short of electricity in the winter, would certainly make it more difficult to supply if the Ukrainian supply were to fail.
Kiev has already announced that it will not extend the contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine, which expires on December 31. As a result, the transit of about 15 billion cubic meters of Russian gas per year would be lost, and the gas supply to Slovakia, Austria, and the Czech Republic would become more difficult and more expensive, as well as the revenue collected in Slovakia from Russian gas transit. Although the latter would also be significant, amounting to hundreds of millions of euros per year, officially Slovak politics and the Slovak utility company SPP, which consolidates Western requests, only communicates how much more expensive it would be to buy non-Russian gas of Western origin.
In the current video, the Slovak Prime Minister said: transporting Russian gas via alternative routes would entail significant additional costs. The alternative route would certainly be the Turkish Stream, which passes through Hungary. He also emphasized that stopping transit in Ukraine would also adversely affect the competitiveness of the European Union, according to his estimates, the resulting costs of the 27 member states may reach 120 billion euros in the next two years.
In our opinion, this amount contains a greatly exaggerated estimate. The replacement cost of the annual transit of 15 billion cubic meters of gas from Ukraine from other directions should not have such a gross cost-increasing effect in two years, even if the replacement of the lost gas volume could have an absorbing effect throughout Europe and would possibly increase wholesale gas prices by a few euros or percentages.
In his video message, Fico blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi for the situation.
He also said that Zelensky is “incomprehensibly” rejecting the ceasefire and is leading the whole of Ukraine to disaster.
According to the head of the Slovak government, the negotiating position of the Ukrainian president is deteriorating day by day, and Ukraine
he will pay a huge price for this western adventure: he will lose territories and foreign troops will arrive in the country.
The above strong statements were made by Fico after he visited Moscow last Sunday and discussed, among other things, the gas transit in Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A few days later, Putin said that the Slovak prime minister had expressed his readiness for his country to serve as a venue for Russian-Ukrainian talks. The Russian president added: Moscow is not opposed to this proposal.
Cover image source: EU
Source: www.portfolio.hu
