Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has issued an ultimatum ahead of the European Union summit on March 6, demanding the restoration of Russian gas transit through Ukraine. He warned that failure to address this issue could lead him to block the summit’s conclusions.
Fico made his stance clear in a Facebook post, emphasizing that Slovakia would not support Ukraine “either financially or militarily to continue the war” and asserting that Kyiv “will never be strong enough to negotiate from a position of military strength.”
As a condition for approving the summit’s conclusions, Fico is also pushing for the recognition of an “immediate ceasefire (regardless of when a final peace agreement is reached).”
“The Slovak Republic calls for the conclusions to include a clear request for the restoration of gas transit through Ukraine to Slovakia and Western Europe,” he stated.
Fico argued that without Russian gas, maintaining Europe’s economic competitiveness would be impossible and stressed that EU assistance to Ukraine “cannot be a one-way ticket.”
“If the summit does not respect the fact that there are different views besides continuing the war, the European Council may fail to reach an agreement on conclusions regarding Ukraine on Thursday,” he cautioned.
