News wire — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Monday invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for talks on gas transit amid a spat over Kyiv’s move to halt Russian gas deliveries.
Ukraine ended the gas flows to Europe at the start of the year following the end of a transit agreement between Kyiv and Moscow, seeking to stop energy revenue going to Moscow to fund its nearly three-year invasion.
Fico says the move has cost Slovakia, which borders Ukraine, through higher gas prices and the loss of fees to transit the gas further into Europe, and he is seeking to have the flows restored.
Fico said in an open letter to Zelenskiy, published by his office, that a meeting could take place in Slovakia near the Ukraine border and could be used to discuss technical solutions to the matter.
“Such a meeting will create a good basis for an open discussion on gas supplies to Slovakia and other countries through the Ukrainian territory,” Fico said.
Fico has previously said a deal was close that would have seen gas deliveries via Ukraine continue by having it change ownership beforehand.
But, he says, Zelenskiy rejected extending any gas flows through Ukraine at EU summit in December.
Fico has argued Europe suffered multi-billion euro losses from a rise in gas prices caused by the absence of around 13.5 billion cubic metres of gas that flowed through Ukraine last year, including around 3 bcm for Slovak consumption.
Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet in Prague; editing by Jason Neely – Reuters
