Vucic reported on Fitzo's meeting with Putin over Ukraine's refusal to transit gas

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said that Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will soon meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Ukraine 's refusal of gas transit through the country. He said this on December 20 on air of Happy TV channel.

"Slovakia and Austria are hurt by this, Slovakia most of all. Austria says it will avoid this in another way through other suppliers. We'll see. But Slovakia is in a difficult position anyway. As far as I know unofficially, <...> on Monday Fitzo will go to Putin as the leader of an EU country, which will cause a reaction from other European leaders," Vucic said.

Into the next gas: How the West is trying to replace Russia in the Balkans

Although Moscow remains a reliable fuel supplier for the countries of the region

Earlier in the day, Vucic said Russia had agreed with Serbia and Hungary to pay for gas supplies through Bulgaria.

Also on this day, Fitzo said that Zelensky had set a condition that he would agree to transit gas through Ukraine if Russia did not pay for the fuel until the conflict ended. The Slovak prime minister said that such a proposal seems absurd to him, because no one will supply gas for free, and Ukraine thus completely excludes the possibility of transit.

On December 18, Fitzo urged Europe to find a way to continue gas transit through Ukraine because Bratislava risks losing annual revenue of €500 million ($525 million) from transit fees and Kiev risks losing transit routes in general.

The Russian leadership has repeatedly pointed out that the country has not given up gas transit supplies to Europe, but European countries must negotiate with Kiev to extend them.