Zelenskyy on Fico's talks with putin: Slovakia pays with sovereignty for putin's discounts
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, commenting on the meeting of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico with the leader of the aggressor state russia, vladimir putin, noted that Slovakia pays with the country's sovereignty for the discounts that putin offers on russian energy sources, and in particular gas.
Zelenskyy reported this on X, the Ukrainian News agency reports.
Zelenskyy believes that after the meeting in moscow, Fico and putin did not make joint statements and did not answer media questions because they cannot publicly say what they discussed at the meeting and are afraid of the public's reaction.
"Moscow gives Fico significant discounts, but Slovakia pays for them. Such discounts are not free - Russia's payments are made through sovereignty or incomprehensible schemes. This should interest Slovak law enforcement agencies and special services," Zelenskyy noted.
He added that the details of such financing became known during a recent meeting of European leaders in Brussels.
"The leaders noted that Mr. Fico does not want to participate in joint European work on energy independence or to look for a replacement for Russian gas. On the contrary, he wants to help Russia displace American gas and the energy resources of other partners from Europe, meaning that he wants to help Putin earn money to finance the war and weaken Europe," the President said.
Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine is losing people because of the war that putin started, and considers such assistance to putin immoral.
According to Zelenskyy, Fico refused compensation in order to mitigate the consequences of the transition period and get rid of dependence on russian energy carriers.
"That is, for him it is not a security issue. He is interested in Russian gas, its value is USD 500 million per year. Other profits come from the pipeline that passes through the territory of Ukraine, bringing in an additional USD 500 million per year, helping Mr. Fico. Therefore, his main goal is to deal with Russia, which brings him personal benefit," he noted.
Zelenskyy called Fico's position a major security problem for Slovakia and all of Europe.
As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, on December 22, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico arrived in the capital of the aggressor country russia, moscow, to meet with putin.
After the meeting with putin, Fico reported on Facebook that he had allegedly warned the leaders of the European Union in advance about his visit to the kremlin and tried to justify it by Ukraine's unwillingness to continue the transit of russian gas.
Fico also accused Zelenskyy of attempted bribery, saying he allegedly offered him a bribe of EUR 500 million from russian assets in exchange for supporting Ukraine's NATO membership.