A dispute between Slovakia and Ukraine over Russian natural gas transit has been escalating.

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico has threatened to cut financial support for more than 130,000 Ukrainian refugees as a dispute with Ukraine over Russian gas supplies escalates.

On 1 January, Kyiv shut off a pipeline that for decades was used to supply Central Europe with Russian natural gas.

Slovakia had been the main entry point and the country now stands to lose millions of euros in transit fees.

The UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) estimated last month that there were 130,530 Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia out of 6,813,900 globally.

Fico - who in December made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin - described Kyiv’s move as “sabotage”.

  • along_the_road@beehaw.org
    15·
    4 days ago

    Why not instead build some solar farms? Or a nuclear reactor? Or some windmills? Slovakia had 3 years to do this. This was a planned thing.

    • Hirom@beehaw.org
      4·
      2 days ago

      He said there was no risk of Slovakia itself suffering from gas shortages, as it had already made alternative arrangements.

      This isn’t about Slovakia’s own gas supply. The article give some hints regarding Fico’s motivations.

  • Ooops@feddit.org
    9·
    3 days ago

    So another country on the way to get cuts in the money they get from the EU, because support for Ukrainian refugees is not a national decision but a mandatory one running under an (unanimously agreed) EU directive.

  • thelucky8@beehaw.orgOPEnglish
    1·
    3 days ago

    After the attempted assassination of Robert Fico last year, world leaders -such as German chancellors Olaf Scholz, his Austrian counterpart Karl Nehammer, Hungary’s Viktor Orban, and many others- rightfully condemned the cowardly act that has no place in a civilized world. And where are these critics now?