Putin Meets Slovakia’s Fico in Moscow Before Gas Deal Expiry

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(Bloomberg) — Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he discussed the imminent end of a natural gas supply deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin during a rare visit by a European leader to Moscow on Sunday.

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In a Facebook post, Fico said that Putin had confirmed that Russia was ready to continue delivering gas to the West via Ukraine, but that this would be “practically impossible” after January 1 given Kiev’s position.

The Prime Minister’s visit comes a little more than a week before the end of the transit contract between Moscow and Ukraine, which allows about 15 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to be shipped via pipelines annually to a number of European countries.

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Several European buyers, including Slovakia, are trying to reach a deal that would work in Kiev. President Volodymyr Zelensky indicated on Thursday that Ukraine would not transport Russian-origin gas unless he received guarantees that the Kremlin would not benefit financially while the war continues.

Fico is the second EU leader to visit Moscow since Putin began his all-out invasion of Ukraine nearly three years ago. The other is Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who traveled to the Russian capital earlier this year on a visit that was harshly criticized by Western allies.

Fico’s trip sparked a sharp rebuke from the Czech Republic, a former partner in the Slovak Federation. CTK news agency quoted Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavski as saying that his country had taken steps to reduce its dependence on Russia in the field of energy “so that we do not need to crawl in front of a killer.”

It was the first one-on-one meeting between Fico and Putin since 2016, according to Russia’s state-run TASS news service.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television earlier Sunday that the visit had been agreed “a few days ago” for the two leaders to discuss international issues, including the transportation of Russian gas.

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Slovakia’s largest gas company SPP has diversified its supply contracts, but shipments from Russia’s Gazprom remain the lowest-cost option. The country also earns nearly 500 million euros ($522 million) annually from fuel transportation fees to countries such as Austria, the Czech Republic and Italy.

Last week, Fico held talks with Zelensky about the possibilities of transporting gas, and said he was surprised by the Ukrainian leader’s resistant stance. Orban said on Saturday that his country is still seeking a solution that would allow continued flows to Europe via Ukraine.

Slovakia, a member of the European Union and NATO, shares a border with Ukraine. Fico previously criticized his European allies for providing military support to Kiev, considering that this only leads to prolonging the war.

He also opposed sanctions on Russia, stating that after the war ended, he aimed to “do everything possible to restore economic and normative relations with the Russian Federation.”

-With assistance from Andrea Dudek.

(Updates with comments from the Slovak Prime Minister in the second paragraph, and the Czech Foreign Minister in the sixth paragraph.)

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