it flag go to the original language article
This article has been translated by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The news agency is not responsible for the content of the translated article. The original was published by ANSA.

I’m in Moscow with Putin for gas after Kiev’s stop

by AI | 26.Dec 2024 | Europe in brief AI

The Russian president relies on gas to maintain influence over Europe by receiving Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico at the Kremlin, who is concerned about Kyiv stopping the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico - PHOTO TASR/AP (AP Photo/Omar Havana)

“`html

Rome (ANSA) – Vladimir Putin promises revenge after a Ukrainian drone raid targeted Russian Kazan, a thousand kilometers from the border, and focuses on gas to maintain influence over Europe by meeting Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico at the Kremlin, concerned about Kiev’s halt to the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory.

“We will not extend” the transit agreement to Europe, “we will not allow Moscow to earn more billions on our blood and on the skin of Ukrainians,” announced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the European Council on December 19. The confirmation then also came from Putin the day after at the year-end press conference: the five-year contract will expire on December 31 and will not be renewed.

A decision that did not please Hungary and Slovakia, which are heavily dependent on Russian gas. Fico is on the same line as Viktor Orban, who blames Kiev for the failure to reach a peace agreement, and has stopped aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the new mandate as prime minister, a year ago. Finally, he also accepted Putin’s invitation to the May ceremonies in Moscow for the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazism.

President Putin “confirmed Russia’s willingness to continue supplying gas to the West and Slovakia,” announced the Slovak Prime Minister on Facebook. In the “long conversation,” he explained, the military situation in Ukraine was also discussed, “on the possibilities of a peaceful end” and on the bilateral relations between Bratislava and Moscow “which I intend to standardize” (December 22).

“`