Slovakia considers reducing electrical energy to Ukraine and limiting refugee assist to compensate for the losses
Slovakia is getting ready to take retaliatory measures in opposition to Kiev after it halted the transit of Russian gasoline via its territory on January 1, in keeping with Prime Minister Robert Fico, who known as the transfer an act of “sabotage” by Ukrainian chief Vladimir Zelensky.
Kiev refused to increase the contract with Russia’s Gazprom past the top of 2024, successfully reducing off the circulate of pure gasoline to EU member states comparable to Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia.
The state of affairs is “extraordinarily critical and deserving of a sovereign response from Slovakia,” Fico stated in a video message on Fb on Thursday. He argued that the halt would lead to Slovakia dropping tons of of billions of euros yearly. Discovering a alternative for Russian gasoline this 12 months alone may incur no less than €90 million in extra prices, in keeping with Slovakia’s state-owned gasoline importer, SPP.
“The one different for a sovereign Slovakia is the renewal of transit or demanding compensation mechanisms that can change the loss in public funds of practically 500 million euros,” the PM acknowledged.
“I declare that [my Smer-SSD party] is able to debate and agree within the coalition on halting provides of electrical energy and considerably reducing assist for Ukrainian residents in Slovakia,” he added. There are roughly 140,000 Ukrainian refugees benefiting from varied help packages. The nation additionally exported 2.4 million megawatt-hours of electrical energy to Ukraine within the first 11 months of 2024, in keeping with knowledge from the Slovak grid operator.
Fico emphasised that solely the USA, which has elevated its gasoline exports to Europe, advantages from Zelensky’s act of “sabotage,” whereas Russia faces no vital hurt and Slovakia bears increased vitality prices. Moscow equally acknowledged that Ukraine’s determination solely advantages the US on the expense of Washington’s supposed allies.
“The US is the principle beneficiary of this redistribution within the Outdated World vitality markets and the first sponsor of the Ukrainian disaster,” Russian Overseas Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stated on Thursday.
Zelensky beforehand accused Fico of aligning with Moscow, describing the Slovak authorities’s stance as opening a “second vitality entrance” in opposition to Ukraine. The Slovak Overseas Ministry dismissed these remarks as baseless “nonsense.”
The European Fee has sought to downplay the affect of the gasoline deal ending, asserting that the EU’s gasoline infrastructure is sufficiently versatile to accommodate non-Russian gasoline provides by way of different routes. Regardless of these assurances, the sudden halt has led to a surge in vitality costs in Europe, reaching €50 per megawatt-hour for the primary time in over a 12 months.
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