Kremlin misleading? Fico said talks with Putin did not cover energy blockade of Ukraine
Photo: Robert Fico, Prime Minister of Slovakia (Office of the President of Ukraine)
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico stated that during his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, he did not discuss the possibility of an energy blockade of Ukraine, according to the press conference of the Slovak Prime Minister and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Fico said that during his meeting with Putin, they primarily discussed issues of bilateral cooperation with Russia.
"The information you received suggesting that there was talk of some kind of energy blockade of Ukraine is completely false. That was absolutely not the subject of my talks with Vladimir Putin," he added.
Fico and Putin meeting
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Russian President Vladimir Putin met this week in China.
According to the Kremlin’s transcript, Fico complained to the Kremlin leader that Ukraine is attacking infrastructure that is "very important" to Slovakia. It is clear that he was referring to the Druzhba oil pipeline.
In response, Putin proposed that Slovakia and other Eastern European countries cut off gas and electricity supplies to Ukraine so that it would "understand that there are limits to its actions in violating the interests of others."
As early as August, Slovakia threatened to stop supplying diesel fuel to Ukraine because the Ukrainian Armed Forces had attacked the Druzhba pipeline several times.
