Slovakia has been locked in a bitter row with Kiev over Russian oil deliveries
FILE PHOTO. Power lines in Low Tatras, Slovakia. © Getty Images / NurPhoto / Oleksandr Rupeta
[RT] Slovakia will terminate an emergency electricity supply contract with Ukraine, state-owned energy operator SEPS has announced.
The
move comes amid the continuing row between Kiev and Bratislava over the
Soviet-era Druzhba pipeline, which carried crude from Russia to
Slovakia and Hungary. The pipeline went offline in late January, with
Kiev claiming it was damaged by Russian long-range strikes, which Moscow
has denied. Slovakia and Hungary have echoed Russia’s stance, accusing
Ukraine of deliberately disrupting the supply for political reasons and
threatening retaliation.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico ordered
a halt to emergency electricity supplies from his country to Ukraine
last week while threatening “further reciprocal steps” if oil supplies are not resumed. Announcing the halt, Fico reiterated that Ukraine’s actions were a “purely political decision aimed at blackmailing Slovakia.”
The contract with Ukrainian energy operator Ukrenego, which covers
the emergency supply, is now set to be terminated, the director of SEPS,
Martin Magath, told reporters on Wednesday after a government meeting.
Over the past week, Ukraine reached out to Slovakia for an emergency
electricity supply, but the request was turned down, he revealed.
Kiev
has been increasingly reliant on electricity imports to stabilize its
power grid, which has been battered by Russian strikes on Ukraine’s
critical dual-use infrastructure. According to the Slovak authorities,
Kiev received twice as much electricity from the country this January
compared to the entire year of 2025.
Budapest has also mulled
cutting emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine amid the Druzhba
standoff. In late February, both Slovakia and Hungary announced that
they would suspend diesel exports to Ukraine until the pipeline becomes
operational again.
Additionally, Budapest has vetoed the EU’s
proposed €90 billion ($106 billion) emergency loan for Ukraine and the
latest package of anti-Russian sanctions. Until Kiev “returns to common sense and normality, we will not support any decision that is favorable to Ukraine,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.