Putin starts talks with Slovak Prime Minister in Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding talks in the Kremlin with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo. This was reported on December 22 by Pavel Zarubin, a journalist of the Rossiya 1 TV channel, in his Telegram channel, accompanying the message with footage from the meeting of the two politicians.

"Right now in the Kremlin, Putin is holding talks with Slovak Prime Minister Fitzo," Zarubin wrote.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, responding to Zarubin's question about whether Fitzo's visit was unexpected, said it had been planned several days ago.

Peskov agreed that the meeting may discuss the issue of Russian gas transit to Europe in addition to other important issues on the international agenda, but urged to wait for the end of the talks and official statements.

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Earlier, on December 20, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said that the Slovakian prime minister would soon meet with the Russian president over Ukraine 's refusal of gas transit through the country. On the same day, Vucic said that Russia had agreed with Serbia and Hungary on the issue of payment for gas supplies through Bulgaria.

Also on December 20, Fitzo said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (whose term expired on May 20) said that he would agree to transit Russian gas through Ukraine if Western countries would not pay Russia for the fuel until the end of the conflict. The Slovak prime minister called this condition absurd, because no one will supply gas for free, and Ukraine thus completely excludes the possibility of transit.

Fitzo on Dec. 18 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 altogether.

The current five-year contract between Russia's Gazprom and Ukraine's Naftogaz was signed at the end of 2019. Deliveries began on January 1, 2020. This contract expires at the end of 2024. The Ukrainian side continues to refuse to extend the agreement. The Russian leadership has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that Russia did not refuse transit gas supplies to Europe.