Russian President Vladimir Putin met on Sunday in the Kremlin with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Vitsu, a few weeks before the end of a contract allowing the passage of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory.
The meeting comes amid growing tensions between Russia and Ukraine over the extension of the agreement.
Slovakia is one of the countries that relies heavily on Russian gas passing through Ukraine, and Vetsu has criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for refusing to extend the contract, which expires at the end of this year.
The spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, explained in a video statement on the account of the Russian media Pavel Zarubin on the Telegram application, that the talks between Putin and Vitso focused mainly on the issue of gas transit, in addition to discussing current international issues, and Peskov pointed out that this meeting was arranged just days ago.
On its part, Ukraine has repeatedly refused to extend the transit agreement with Russia, citing that 34 months have passed since the start of the war between the two countries, and at the European Union summit held last week in Brussels, Zelensky reiterated that his country will not continue to allow the transport of Russian gas through its territory.
Slovakia is seeking to maintain the flow of Russian gas through Ukraine, especially as it is linked to a long-term contract with the Russian company Gazprom, and according to its government estimates, resorting to other sources of gas will cost the country about 220 million euros ($229 million) an additional year due to high transport costs.
At the moment, there was no official comment from the Slovak government on the results of the meeting, and no media inquiries have been responded to about its final position.
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