Slovakia Weighs Retaliation After Ukraine Halts Gas Transit
(Reuters) - Slovakia's coalition government will discuss retaliatory measures to take against Ukraine after it halted the flow of Russian gas through its territory to Slovakia, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Thursday.
Fico said in a video message posted on Facebook that his Smer party would consider cutting electricity supplies to Ukraine, lowering aid to Ukrainian refugees, and demanding the renewal of gas transits or compensation for losses he said Slovakia had suffered due to the ending of Russian gas flows.
Russian gas exports via Soviet-era pipelines running through Ukraine came to a halt on New Year's Day, marking the end of decades of Moscow's dominance over Europe's energy markets, as a transit contract between Russia and Ukraine expired.
Slovakia has alternative gas supplies but Fico, who has ended military aid to Ukraine and sought warmer relations with Moscow, says Slovakia will lose its own transit revenues and pay additional transit fees to bring in non-Russian gas. He has also said European gas and power prices would rise as a result of Ukraine's actions.
Fico said a Slovak delegation would discuss the situation in Brussels next Tuesday and then his ruling coalition would discuss retaliation for what he called "sabotage" by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
"I declare (my Smer-SSD party) are ready to debate and agree in the coalition on halting supplies of electricity and on significant lowering of support for Ukrainian citizens in Slovakia," Fico said.
"The only alternative for a sovereign Slovakia is renewal of transit or demanding compensation mechanisms that will replace the loss in public finances of nearly 500 million euros."
Zelenskiy accused Fico last week of opening a "second energy front" against Ukraine on the orders of Russia.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by Gareth Jones and Hugh Lawson)
