Moscow, on the other hand, will not feel the negative nature of the measure.

Stopping gas transit to Ukraine will have a drastic effect on everyone in the European Union (EU), but not on Russia, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said in his New Year's speech, which he published on his social media profile on Wednesday.

With this, the Slovak Prime Minister responded to Kiev's previous announcement that it would not extend the contract for the transit of Russian gas to Ukraine, which expired at midnight on December 31. The Slovak gas transport company, Eustream, confirmed in a statement published on its website on Wednesday: on the first of January, the delivery of gas coming from Ukraine stopped at the Nagykapos (Velké Kapusany) entry point on the Slovak-Ukrainian border.

No more Russian gas will come to the EU through Ukraine

Already on Sunday, Robert Fico - in his open letter addressed to the leaders of the EU's central institutions - wrote that the unilateral decision of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to stop the transit of Russian gas will cause the European Union many tens of billions of euros in losses, and that the "quiet" acceptance of this is incorrect, leading to tensions and countermeasures then.

Robert Fico: Kiev's decision to stop gas transit causes a brutal loss for the EU

In connection with the suspension of gas transit to Ukraine, Robert Fico repeated his earlier statement in his New Year's speech that he will continue to pursue a sovereign policy "looking in the direction of all the four heavens", and that his government's foreign policy will be an active foreign policy based on compliance with international law that does not interfere into the internal affairs of others.

We will mainly pursue Slovakian goals and interests - stated Robert Fico, underlining: he does not want Slovakia to be the servant of anyone, and peace is at the top of the Bratislava government's pyramid of interests.

In his New Year's speech, Robert Fico, evaluating the activities of his government's first year and comparing it to a football match, said: it is necessary to be aware that if the match is not controlled, the opponent will do everything to prevent this team from playing again.

And the whole so-called democratic world will applaud them, because what we can see now in Romania and Georgia (disrespecting the results of the elections if the one who should not have won) is a method whose use is becoming regular and accepted by unpleasant politicians and to remove political parties, stated Robert Fico.

MTI

Cover photo: Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico
Source: MTI/EPA/Andrej Cukic