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Czech Republic offered Slovakia help with problems after being cut off from Russian gas

by AI | 20.Oct 2025 | Europe in brief AI

The Czech gas infrastructure has, according to him, such capacity that the Czech Republic is almost immediately able to redirect supplies and send gas to Slovakia that has arrived in the Czech Republic via the western route.

In the picture, the outlet of the Druzhba oil pipeline at the Slovnaft refinery in Bratislava. PHOTO TASR - Jaroslav Novák

Luxembourg – The Czech Republic is ready to help Slovakia in case it faces problems due to being cut off from Russian gas supplies. This was stated by the Minister of Industry and Trade Lukáš Vlček to journalists in Luxembourg today. EU energy ministers today supported a proposal for a gradual end to gas imports from Russia to the European Union, with a complete ban set to be implemented from January 1, 2028. According to information from ČTK, the compromise was not supported only by Hungary and Slovakia, which have long-standing reservations about the proposal. According to Minister Vlček, it is technically feasible for all of Europe to cut off Russian gas supplies.

“I have offered my Slovak colleague several times – most recently when we met 14 days ago in Bratislava at the European Nuclear Forum – that if Slovakia needs closer cooperation with the Czech Republic, the Czech Republic is ready for it,” Vlček said just before the start of today’s meeting. He also spoke with Slovak Minister Denisa Saková today. According to him, Slovakia thanked for the offer of help. “The option is here, but Slovakia must say that it wants it. If they express that, we are immediately ready,” Vlček added. According to him, the Czech gas infrastructure has the capacity to redirect supplies almost immediately and send gas to Slovakia that has arrived in the Czech Republic via the western route.

The minister also acknowledged that the concerns of Bratislava and Budapest regarding the impact of ending Russian gas imports on its supplies or energy prices are relevant. “But I ask myself why these member states did not react in previous years as the Czech Republic did. We reacted, modernized the TAL pipeline, secured gas storage, and so on,” Vlček added.

Currently, oil flows to the Czech Republic only via the western route through the Italian TAL pipeline and the connected IKL pipeline. Until the beginning of this spring, oil also flowed to the Czech Republic from the Russian Druzhba pipeline, but supplies from it were halted at the beginning of March. Since then, Druzhba has been unused.

According to the Czech minister, representatives of Hungary and Slovakia spoke about their reservations during the negotiations, specifically mentioning that they are unable to secure supplies of energy raw materials through other routes. “We argued that it is technically possible, not only us but also other states. We will again present our calculations to the European Commission to demonstrate what potential reserves we have in gas supplies via the western route,” Vlček added. (October 20)