Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Slovakia that Russian Gazprom would find alternative ways to supply gas to Slovakia through contracts after the end of its transit via Ukraine, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico stated today.

Fico met with Putin in Moscow on December 22 to discuss the gas issue and the war in Ukraine following Ukraine’s decision not to allow the flow of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory starting January 1.

Fico has threatened to take retaliatory measures against Kyiv as Slovakia wants to continue receiving Russian gas via Ukraine to keep costs low and maintain revenues as a transit country for gas shipments further into Europe.

“I spoke with Putin about a contract between us and Gazprom, which states that they are obliged to supply us with gas somehow,” Fico said in a parliamentary committee. “We can push some [amount of gas] through the southern stream (the route via Turkey), but for now, we have storage, and Slovak consumption is secured.”

Fico said that Putin guaranteed that Russia would fulfill its obligations, although the capacity of the TurkStream pipeline and the interconnector carrying Russian gas through Turkey to Europe is limited. “President Putin guaranteed they would honor their commitments,” Fico said.

Some gas could be distributed through Western Europe, Fico said, referring to Slovakia’s pipeline connections with gas networks in neighboring Central and Western European countries.

Fico has said that Europe suffered losses worth billions of euros due to the increase in gas prices caused by the absence of approximately 13.5 billion cubic meters of gas that flowed through Ukraine last year, including around 3 billion cubic meters of gas for Slovak consumption.

Fico stated that an agreement was close to continuing transit through Ukraine, with Russian gas changing ownership before entering Ukraine under an arrangement that would involve Azerbaijan or the Slovak gas import company SPP. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected any extension of gas flow through Ukraine at the EU summit in December.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry responded today to Slovakia’s recent criticism regarding the cessation of Russian gas transit through the country, stating that the problem lies with Russia and the unwillingness of “certain politicians” to end their dependence on Moscow.