Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico met Vladimir Putin in a surprise visit to Moscow on Sunday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
In a statement published on Facebook on Sunday evening, Fico said his visit followed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky telling him that Kyiv was “opposed to any transit of gas through Ukraine” to Slovakia, adding that EU leaders had been “informed” of Fico’s trip and its purpose.
Zelensky’s “positions”, Fico wrote, including Kyiv’s support for sanctions against Russia’s nuclear programme, were “harming Slovakia financially”.
According to Fico, Putin confirmed during the meeting that Russia was “ready … to continue to supply gas to the West and to Slovakia”, despite Kyiv planning to stop the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine by the end of 2024, which Fico said would make this “practically impossible”.
Fico added that he and Putin had also discussed possible ways of reaching “an early peaceful end to the war” in Ukraine.
The Kremlin did not issue a press statement following the Sunday meeting, as Peskov said the meeting was held in a “tête-à-tête” format.
Fico is the third EU leader to visit Moscow since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine after Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer in April 2022 and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in July of this year.
Slovakia remains one of the main customers for Russian gas delivered through Ukraine, along with Hungary, Austria, and to a lesser extent Italy, Czechia, Croatia and Slovenia, but will be forced to find alternative sources of natural gas to maintain its supplies as transit through Ukraine is likely to stop in January.