Slovaquian Prime Minister Robert Fico criticized the European Commission on Russian Energy at a meeting with Vladimir Putin on Friday evening, the Kremlin reported.
Fico said that a decision to cut Russia’s energy supplies could lead to “instability” and “technological problems”. He promised that Slovakia would oppose its veto to the European Commission’s proposal if unanimous approval should pass. “If they vote by majority, not unanimously, then the big states will make the decision,” he added.
Allegating that Europe wanted to “build a new iron curtain” and that the sanctions against Russia did not work and only damaged the European Union itself, Fico said that Bratislava, on the other hand, was “interested in normal relations with the Russian Federation”.
In June, the European Commission aims to propose the introduction of a complete ban on the use of Russian gas and nuclear fuel to be operational by 2027. Hungary or Slovakia, the two allies of Putin within the European Union, will therefore not be able to block the plan alone.
Fico was the only head of the European Union to attend the Moscow Victory Day celebrations in Moscow on Friday while Russia marked the 80th anniversary of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany during the Second World War with a massive parade, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has nicknamed a “Cyncism Parade”.
