'The EU is being damaged' - Slovakia 'threatens' Ukraine - Warns of punitive measures after Russian gas cutoff
Slovakia has warned of retaliatory measures against Ukraine after the cutoff of Russian gas through its territory. The Slovak government has emphasized that this decision will cause more economic damage to the European Union than to Russia.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has threatened to cut financial aid to more than 130,000 Ukrainian refugees living in the country as part of a series of retaliatory measures against Ukraine over its decision to stop the flow of Russian gas through its territory to Slovakia. . Fico said his Smer party would also consider cutting off Ukraine's electricity supply and demand the renewal of gas transit or compensation for the financial loss he says Slovakia has suffered.
Exports of Russian gas supplies passing through a Soviet-era pipeline through Ukraine were halted on New Year's Day after Kiev said it would not renew a five-year transit agreement with Russian energy giant Gazprom. Slovakia tried to persuade Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to renew the agreement in order to continue the flow of cheap Russian gas supplies to Europe. Tension between the two countries escalated in recent weeks when the Ukrainian leader refused to renew the agreement.
Fico has hit back, saying that banning Russian gas would raise European gas and electricity prices and ultimately hurt the European Union more than Russia. He added that Slovakia itself would not suffer from gas shortages as it had found substitutes, but Ukraine's decision to cut off Russian gas would cost Bratislava 500 million euros in transit fees to other states.
Slovakia signed a short-term contract to buy natural gas from Azerbaijan, as well as an agreement to import liquefied natural gas from the United States via Poland last year. Fico, however, has claimed that ending the deal would cost the European Union 120 billion euros over the next two years as a whole.
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