Erdogan says plans to discuss gas supply to Slovakia with Putin
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on 20 January after talks in Ankara with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo that he planned to discuss the issue of Russian natural gas supplies to Slovakia with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Erdogan, in the wake of Ukraine cutting off Slovakia's gas, suggested the country negotiate supplies with Russia.
"God willing, we will take this step and I have received an agreement from the Prime Minister (of Slovakia Robert Fitzo. - Ed.). My minister (Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. - Ed.) will hold talks with (Russian Foreign Minister. - Ed.) Sergey Lavrov. I, in turn, will talk to the honorable Mr. Putin also this week to resolve this issue," Hürriyet quoted him as saying.
In addition, he noted that the Turkish Foreign Ministry continues to hold talks on the possibility of resuming the grain corridor. According to him, the state has exported about 30 million tons of agricultural products through the Black Sea grain corridor. In addition, Erdogan added that Putin, not being a supporter of supplying grain to the European Union countries, preferred to supply it to poor countries, to Africa.
"Unfortunately, we did not get the result we expected, but my foreign minister [Hakan Fidan] continues to discuss this issue with his interlocutors," the Turkish leader added.
Erdogan's meeting with Fitzo became known the day before. It was noted that the meeting would discuss the deepening of cooperation between the countries and exchange views on topical regional and global issues. On the agenda was also the signing of agreements, including a joint declaration on "strategic partnership".
On the eve of the Deputy Speaker of the Slovak Parliament Tibor Gašpar said that due to the decision of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (term of office expired on May 20, 2024) to stop the supply of Russian gas through the Ukrainian territory, the EU may suffer damage worth €70 billion. According to him, Slovakia will respond to such actions of the head of the Kiev regime by reducing or stopping humanitarian aid.
At the end of August 2024, Zelensky said that the country would not extend the gas transit agreement with Russia, which expired at the end of 2024. Russian President Vladimir Putin later indicated that Moscow was not giving up gas transit through Ukraine.
On January 1, 2025, Gazprom said it would suspend gas supplies through Ukraine. On the same day, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo said that this would have drastic consequences for the EU, but not for Russia.
