Slovakia will cut off electricity to Ukraine in response to gas cuts
Slovakia will assess the gas situation after January 1 and consider retaliatory measures against Ukraine, including cutting off electricity supplies, the republic's Prime Minister Robert Fitzo said in a video message on social media.
“If it is unavoidable, we will stop supplies of electric energy, which Ukraine urgently needs in case of grid disruptions, or we will agree on another method,” he said.
According to the head of the Slovak government, stopping the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine will cost the EU 120 billion euros in 2025-2026. This would lead to higher prices for the blue fuel, which would further weaken the European economy, he added.
\Fitzo threatened the Kiev authorities with a serious conflict over gas as early as last week. At the same time, the prime minister noted that Slovakia helps Ukraine and expects a similar attitude to itself.
The current five-year contract on the transit of Russian gas to Europe through the post-Soviet republic expires on December 31. Last year Gazprom delivered about 15 billion cubic meters of fuel through this route, which accounted for 4.5 percent of total EU consumption. Last week, Vladimir Zelensky rejected the possibility of extending the transit agreement even with purchases by third countries.
In the event of a supply interruption, the only source of Russian pipeline gas for Europeans will remain the Balkan Stream, which receives fuel from Turkish Stream. It supplies about 14-15 billion cubic meters of gas annually to Romania, Greece, Northern Macedonia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Hungary.