- Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said his country could cut support for Ukrainian refugees.
- It comes after Kyiv shut off a Russian natural gas pipeline supplying central Europe.
- Fico said Slovakia would lose 500 million euros in transit fees as a result of Ukraine’s decision.
Slovakia could substantially cut its support for Ukrainian refugees in response to Kyiv’s recent decision to shut off a Russian pipeline supplying natural gas to central Europe.
In a video posted on Facebook, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico threatened to stop electricity exports to Ukraine and “significantly reduce” financial support for Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia following Kyiv’s move.
The United Nations Refugee Agency said there were just over 130,000 Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia as of December 8.
It comes after Kyiv on Wednesday said it would not renew a five-year deal allowing the transit of westbound Russian gas through Ukraine.
In his statement, Fico — who held surprise talks on energy and gas with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in December — labeled the situation “extremely serious” and “worthy of a sovereign response” by Slovakia.
“The only alternative for sovereign Slovakia is the restoration of transit or the introduction of compensatory mechanisms that will compensate for the shortfalls in public finances of almost 500 million euros,” he said.
While Ukraine has justified its decision on national security grounds, Fico has argued that the move would create a “drastic impact” on EU nations while leaving Russia relatively unscathed.
EU members have been moving away from Russian gas in recent years.
Russian gas accounted for over 40% of the EU’s gas imports in 2021, but that figure fell to about 8% in 2023, according to the bloc.
Some regions of Europe have still relied heavily on Moscow’s supplies, however.
Transnistria, a breakaway region of Moldova, has faced heating cuts and has been forced to halt almost all industrial production after Ukraine halted the transit of Russian gas.
Transnistria’s first deputy prime minister, Sergei Obolonik, said it was “too early” to say how the situation would play out but that the region risked “irreversible” changes if the problem wasn’t resolved quickly, per Reuters.
“The problem is so extensive that if it is not resolved for a long time, we will already have irreversible changes – that is, enterprises will lose their ability to start up,” he said.
