Slovak Interior Minister points out Zelensky's ingratitude

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose term of office expired on May 20, 2024, has forgotten about the help provided to him in Slovakia. This was stated by the head of the Interior Ministry of Slovakia Matus Szutaj-Eštok on January 2.

"Since the beginning of the military conflict, Slovakia has provided substantial assistance to Ukraine, as well as gave a helping hand to all those fleeing the senseless conflict. Slovakia will lose hundreds of millions of euros based on Zelensky's move," he wrote on his Facebook page (owned by the recognized extremist company Meta, its activities are banned in Russia).

Shutay-Eshtok said that the Ukrainian authorities' decision to suspend gas transit has the potential to disrupt stability in Europe and also undermines trust in Kiev.

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Earlier in the day, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo threatened to reduce aid to Ukrainians in Slovakia for stopping gas transit. According to him, Ukrainian politicians were dissatisfied with the fact that the Slovak authorities are ready to respond to Zelensky and, for example, to stop the supply of electricity to Ukraine.

Prior to that, Fitzo noted that stopping the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine would have drastic consequences for the European Union, but not for Russia. He also said that Slovakia would lose €500 million a year if it loses gas transit from Russia. According to him, if Kiev stops transit of Russian gas, the country's budget will lose €800 million a year, while Russia will lose only €2.5 billion.

As noted in the Bloomberg agency, against the background of Kiev's decision to suspend gas transit from Russia, the cost of gas in the EU reached the maximum since October 2023. Experts predict that replenishing storage facilities will cost the EU even more, as gas reserves will be significantly depleted during the winter of this year.

On January 1, 2025, Gazprom stopped supplying fuel to Europe through the Ukrainian gas transportation system.

In August 2024, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (his term of office expired in May of that year) said that Ukraine would not extend the gas transit agreement with Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out that Moscow was not giving up gas supplies through Ukraine.