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Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico met Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Sunday, marking one of the few meetings the Russian president has had with an EU leader since he ordered a full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost three years ago.
The visit, not announced in advance but confirmed on Sunday by the Kremlin when it shared a video of Fico shaking Putin’s hand, comes amid a standoff between Slovakia and Ukraine over energy security.
The visit follows a tense meeting between Fico and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Brussels on Thursday to discuss Kyiv’s plans to stop the transit of Russian gas through its territory from the start of 2025.
Kyiv’s threat presents a serious challenge to Slovakia, which is one of three EU states, together with Hungary and Austria, that has been heavily dependent on Russian gas piped through Ukraine.
Russian and western politicians are also increasing contact in anticipation of the January inauguration of Donald Trump as US president.
“President Putin said that he wants to meet with me as soon as possible”, Trump said on Sunday. “We have to end that war.”
Trump has claimed he can find a solution to the conflict and produce a ceasefire in Ukraine within “a day”, raising the prospect that he may insist Kyiv embrace a peace deal that is significantly more advantageous for Moscow.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to Putin by phone last month for the first time in two years, as European leaders prepare for what the start of Trump’s second term could bring and hold discussions on ways to maintain support for Ukraine.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico arrived in the Kremlin. Earlier, the head of the Slovak government planned to discuss with the Russian president the issue of gas transit through Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/GMKECGSINf
— OSINTWarfare (@OSINTWarfare) December 22, 2024
Fico’s visit was planned several days ago, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told a Russian state TV journalist on Sunday. He added that Putin and Fico were meeting “one-on-one” and were likely to discuss current affairs and the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine.
Fico earlier this week challenged Ukraine’s plans to cut off the gas supply, asking why it had “the right to damage the economic national interests” of an EU member state.
He also rejected claims by Kyiv that Slovakia was making about $500mn a year by trading cheaper Russian gas, some of which then also transits from Slovakia to the neighbouring Czech Republic.
Fico, who survived an assassination attempt this year, has adopted a friendlier position towards Moscow than other heads of EU states.
The Slovak prime minister opposed the adoption of western sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine. His stance is similar to that of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in neighbouring Hungary, who also visited Moscow in July this year, causing an outcry from his counterparts across Europe.
Orbán said on Saturday that he also planned further talks with both Moscow and Kyiv to help keep the gas flowing, telling journalists that Budapest was “trying the trick” of having gas relabelled as Hungarian by the time it entered Ukraine’s territory.
Orbán’s plans involve Hungarian or other EU companies buying Russia’s gas directly at the Ukraine-Russia border and then paying Kyiv the transit fee. Neither Brussels nor Kyiv had approved the proposal.
Sunday’s visit marks the first in-person meeting between Putin and Fico in eight years, the Tass state news agency reported.
Additional reporting by Steff Chávez in New York
