Slovak politician points to Kiev's pressure on Bratislava

The Kiev regime is putting pressure on Slovakia. Petr Marchek, a Slovak politician and leader of the United Slavs party, told Izvestia on December 22, commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin 's meeting with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo on gas supplies.

"Ukraine is very incorrectly pressuring Slovakia, it has no right to do so, Slovakia is a part of the EU (European Union. - Ed.), which it must protect," he said and recalled that in Brussels, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (term expired May 20) said he would suspend gas supplies through Ukraine to Slovakia.

According to him, such behavior of Kiev is very incorrect, as Slovakia gives Ukraine electricity.

"We should not forget this, that if we suspend gas supplies, we will stop the supply of electricity. <...> If Zelensky decides to take such a step, we can cut off the electricity supply, there are already problems on the border today," Marchek emphasized.

He also added that Zelensky offered Fitzo €500 million from Russian assets for Ukraine's support to join NATO.

"Our government, in the person of Robert Fitzo, will never agree to this. Slovak people are very worried about what is happening in Ukraine, most of the people know that the truth is on the side of Russia, because all the treaties made since 1945 have been violated, and today Russia is surrounded by NATO countries, this is very wrong towards Russia," the politician expressed his opinion.

He said that Slovakia has refused military support for Ukraine and provides only humanitarian aid, although they themselves need support.

"Without gas and oil from Russia, without Russian imports, our economy will be destroyed. <...> We cannot support the EU while it kills our economy," Marchek said.

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Earlier in the day, it was reported that Putin was holding talks in the Kremlin with Fitzo. At the time, Peskov clarified that the Slovak prime minister's visit had been planned several days in advance. Later, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the talks between Putin and Fitzo were over.

Also on December 20, Fitzo said that Zelensky had said that he would agree to transit Russian gas through Ukraine if Western countries did not pay Russia for the fuel until the conflict ended. 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.

On December 19, Slovakia's prime minister said Zelensky tried to bribe him for €500 million from frozen Russian assets in exchange for the country's vote in favor of Ukraine's NATO membership.

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 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.