Fico: Acceptance of Zelenskyy's Unilateral Moves Will Lead to Tension

Bratislava, December 29 (TASR) - Tacit acceptance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's unilateral decision to shut down the transit of Russian gas is wrong, irrational and will lead to increased tension and reciprocal measures, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) wrote in an open letter addressed to the EU on Sunday. It is in the interest of the EU's people to make the aid for Ukraine rational, instead of carrying out in the form of self-destructive gestures that damage the EU. "As is generally known, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has unilaterally, without any open consultations with bodies of the EU or affected member states, announced that, as of January 1, 2025, Ukraine will no longer carry out any transit of [Russian] gas through its land to the Slovak Republic and other consumers in Western Europe," reads the letter. According to Fico, other variants than the transit of Russian gas were presented to Ukraine, but these were turned down by Kiev as well. Fico commented that he doesn't know whether the European Commission has opted to attend to this affair so lackadaisically because economic impacts of the shutdown of the gas transit haven't been analysed and the decision taken was purely ideological, or such an analysis was conducted but not discussed with member states. Fico argues in the letter that the shutdown of the transit will hurt EU more than Russia. "In all likelihood, this will take any feasible option to export gas from Europe to Ukraine off the table and Ukraine will need to rely solely on its own gas production," thinks FIco. Earlier this year, Ukrainian representatives signalled that they don't plan to extend the contract on the transit of Russian gas through their land, which is set to expire on December 31. On Friday (December 27), Fico responded that the Slovak Government will consider reciprocal measures that might including cutting out supplies of electricity to Ukraine. On Saturday (December 28), Zelenskyy accused Fico of opening up a second energy front against Ukraine at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin. mf