Vladimir Putin meets with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 09 May 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE/ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP POOL
Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico criticised the European Commission’s position on Russian energy at a meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday evening, the Kremlin has reported.
Fico said a decision to cut off energy supplies from Russia could lead to “instability” and “technological problems”. He promised that Slovakia would veto the European Commission proposal should unanimous approval be required for it to pass. “If they vote by a majority, not unanimously, then the large states will carry the decision,” he added.
Alleging that Europe wanted “to build a new iron curtain” and that sanctions against Russia did not work and only damaged the European Union itself, Fico said that Bratislava, by contrast, was “interested in normal relations with the Russian Federation”.
In June, the European Commission aims to propose introducing a complete ban on the use of Russian gas and nuclear fuel to be operational by 2027. It will be put to a vote that will have to be approved by a majority of members of the European Parliament and a qualified majority of EU countries, state-affiliated business daily Kommersant noted. Hungary or Slovakia, Putin’s two allies within the European Union, will not therefore be able to block the plan alone.
Fico was the sole European Union leader to attend Moscow’s Victory Day celebrations in Moscow on Friday as Russia marked the 80th anniversary of the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II with a massive parade, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dubbed a “parade of cynicism”.
