Political analyst expresses doubts about Slovakia's readiness to impose sanctions against Ukraine

It is unlikely that Slovakia will impose sanctions against Ukraine in response to the suspension of Russian gas transit and rudeness on the part of the country's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose powers expired in May. This opinion was shared with Izvestiya on December 28 by Denis Denisov, an expert of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.

The day before, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo said that Bratislava would assess the situation with gas supplies after January 1 and consider the possibility of retaliatory measures against Ukraine. He also did not rule out the possibility of cutting off energy supplies to Kiev. Zelensky, in turn, in social network X on Saturday accused Fitzo of supporting Russia.

"Zelensky has created an image for himself and thinks he can talk to non-dominant states, including [members of] the European Union and NATO, in terms of force. <...> I think that, of course, Slovakia will not impose any sanctions against Ukraine, exactly as it will not suspend electricity supply," Denisov commented.

In his opinion, Kiev takes advantage of the fact that Bratislava cannot react under the influence of other Western states. The same applies to Hungary, which is interested in Russian energy carriers, the interlocutor of the publication believes.

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Earlier, on December 27, Fitzo predicted that Ukraine would pay for the "Western adventure" with its own territory and the presence of foreign troops. He also once again called for a ceasefire and a diplomatic settlement of the situation.

Prior to that, Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Slovak prime minister held talks in the Kremlin on December 22. Fitzo called his visit to Russia a reaction to Zelensky's statement about the termination of Russian gas transit to Europe. The Ukrainian conflict was one of the topics of the meeting.

In addition, on November 1, Fitzo said that the West's strategy of dragging out the fighting in Ukraine ostensibly to improve the situation in future negotiations was unrealistic. At the time, he noted that Slovakia was ready to join the Friends of Peace group set up by China for a peaceful settlement of the crisis in Ukraine.