Slovakia will discuss retaliation after Ukraine’s gas transit ‘sabotage’, says Fico

By Jan Lopatka

(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.

Slovakia’s gas transit network operator Eustream, majority owned by the state, had revenue of 158 million euros and after-tax profit of 25 million euros in the six months to Jan. 31 last year, the latest period it reported on its website.

State-owned Slovak gas importer SPP, which covers around two-thirds of Slovak demand, said on Wednesday it would face around 90 million euros in additional costs, mainly in transit fees, if it were to replace all Russian gas this year.

Slovakia, which neighbours Ukraine in the east, exported 2.4 million megawatt hours of electricity in the first 11 months of 2024 to Ukraine, which has suffered shortages due to Russian bombing, according to data from the Slovak grid operator.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; Editing by Gareth Jones and Hugh Lawson)