SaS Suspects Addendum That Would Prevent Attempts to Sue Gazprom Has Been Signed

Bratislava, January 14 (TASR) - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party suspects that the subject of discussions in St. Petersburg and Moscow was the signing of an addendum with Gazprom that would prevent Slovakia's state-owned gas utility SPP from suing the Russian company for interrupting gas supplies, MP Karol Galek (SaS) stated at a press conference of Tuesday. "We therefore call on the Economy Ministry to disclose the topics discussed in St. Petersburg and Moscow and whether any addendum with Gazprom was part of the negotiations. If this isn't the case, we request that they provide the public with information on the current status of SPP's lawsuit against Gazprom," stated Galek. Galek added that Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) mentioned at a session of the parliamentary European affairs committee that he wanted to persuade Gazprom to transport gas only to the Russian-Ukrainian border. "From there, it would supposedly be gas from Slovakia or Azerbaijan. However, he forgot to mention that if Gazprom weren't responsible for transporting gas through the war zone in Ukraine, nothing would stop Putin from bombing that pipeline," noted Galek. According to the MP, SPP would still have to pay for the gas in question, regardless of whether it actually reached Slovakia or not. "Fico's lie, that Ukraine rejected such a scheme, has been contradicted even by Putin himself. He confirmed that the Ukrainians showed interest in gas transit that would not officially be Russian. However, Putin rejected this, stating that it would only happen once all lawsuits are withdrawn from the courts," stated Galek, noting that other gas companies in Europe are also suing Gazprom. lin/df