Fico Rejected Offered Compensation for Losses from Gas Transit, Claims Zelenskyy

Kiev/Bratislava, December 24 (TASR) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, writing in his post on the platform X, released on Monday night also in Slovak, claims that he offered compensation for losses from Russian transit to Slovak Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD), but he refused it, TASR learnt on the same day. "We offered him solutions regarding potential compensation for Slovaks – the Slovaks specifically – for losses from Russian transit, as well as alternatives for transit – any other gas, not Russian, at the request of the European Commission. We were ready to do this. Fico did not want compensation for the Slovaks. And he does not want to cooperate with the European Commission. For some reason, he finds Moscow more profitable," wrote Zelenskyy, adding that everyone in Europe understands why. The Ukrainian president further stated that while Ukrainians are fighting for their lives, "Fico is fighting for money, and it’s unlikely that money is for Slovakia". According to Zelenskyy, shadow agreements with Putin are either a trade of state interests or working for personal gain. Zelenskyy criticised the Slovak premier's trip to Russia already in an earlier post on X, also published in Slovak. He wrote that Fico "wants to assist Russia in pushing the American gas and energy resources of other partners away from Europe, which implies that Fico wants to help Putin earn money to fund the war and weaken Europe". The conflict between the Slovak and the Ukrainian leaders intensified last week at a session of the European Council, as Fico announced that he failed to see eye-to-eye with Zelenskyy on five issues of consequence, including Ukrainian's NATO membership and the transit of the Russian gas. Subsequently, Fico met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday (December 22) and claimed that they discussed the situation in Ukraine, options for peaceful solutions and the Slovak-Russian ties, which Fico wishes to restore. He called his meeting with the Russian president a reaction to Zelenskyy saying that he is against the gas transit to the Slovak territory via Ukraine. ko