President: My Trip to Ukraine Out of Question

(STVR, 'Sobotne dialogy', January 11) Speaking on STVR's politics programme 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues), President Peter Pellegrini said that his trip to Ukraine is out of the question under the current circumstances, explaining that the Ukrainian government has stopped gas supplies and refuses to transit gas to Slovakia. "In a situation where the Ukrainian government and President [Volodymyr Zelenskyy] have decided to cut off our gas supplies, they refuse to transit it to Slovakia, thus fundamentally endangering Slovakia's energy security. In a situation where the Ukrainian parliament adopts a law that is to ban the transport of oil to Slovakia, even though we have valid contracts, under such circumstances my trip to Ukraine is currently out of the question," said the head of state. Pellegrini as president will always keep Slovakia's interests in mind. He notes Prime Minister Robert Fico's (Smer-SD) declaration that if Ukraine stops oil supplies to Slovakia, this cannot go unnoticed. In his opinion, it is the government's duty to guarantee energy security for Slovakia. am