Situation at a glance: Slovakia threatens to take measures against Ukrainian refugees

Angered by Ukraine’s transit stop for Russian gas, the Slovakian government is threatening worse treatment of Ukrainian refugees. Left-wing populist Prime Minister Robert Fico said in Bratislava that he would talk to his coalition about limiting support for Ukrainians in Slovakia. He did not give any details. At the same time, the head of government, who is known to be Russia-friendly, repeated the threat that Slovakia could stop electricity deliveries to neighboring Ukraine.

At the turn of the year, Ukraine, which was at war with Moscow, let its contract with the Russian energy giant Gazprom for the transit of Russian gas to the West expire. Neighboring Slovakia is among those affected, even if, according to the European Commission, the EU countries as a whole are prepared for the long-announced step.

Fico: Slovakia loses 500 million euros a year

As a result of the stop, Slovakia will lose 500 million euros in transit fees annually because it will no longer be able to pass through Russian gas, Fico said in a video published on Facebook. His country is demanding compensation. Fico calculated that without Russian gas, the EU states would have to pay 60 to 70 billion euros more a year in the form of higher gas and electricity prices.

The Slovakian accused Ukrainian head of state Volodymyr Zelensky of sabotage. “It practically doesn’t matter to Russia. Only the United States will benefit from President Zelensky’s decision to increase gas exports to Europe,” Fico said. Slovakia will first discuss solutions in Brussels, then within the coalition.

Fico is a critic of the West’s Ukraine policy. Before Christmas, he visited Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in Moscow and sparked outrage in Ukraine and other EU countries that are trying to form a united front against the aggressor Russia.

Russia: Europeans lose – USA wins

The Russian Foreign Ministry described European consumers as losers from the gas transit ban. Not only will the EU’s economic potential be weakened due to high energy prices, but there will also be negative effects on the lives of Europeans, said ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

The most important beneficiary, in turn, is the USA as a “war sponsor”, which can sell its gas to Europe at higher prices, not least because of the blown up Nord Stream 1 and 2 Baltic Sea pipelines. Above all, the German economy, which has long benefited from comparatively cheap gas deliveries from Russia, has become a victim of the USA, said Sakharova.

Experts assume that Gazprom will lose the equivalent of around five billion euros in revenue due to the transit stop. However, analysts also expect that at least part of this will be offset by larger deliveries from the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines laid in the Black Sea. Ukraine, in turn, is losing hundreds of millions in transit fees due to the stopped transit.

CDU man for sending German soldiers to Ukraine

Meanwhile, the discussion continues about how to end the Russian-Ukrainian war and prevent the conflict from flaring up again. The CDU security politician Roderich Kiesewetter supports the deployment of Bundeswehr soldiers in Ukraine after the end of the war. “As the economically strongest country in Europe, Germany must be prepared to make a major contribution to securing peace and the European security architecture,” he told the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung”. Germany is therefore obliged to get involved in Ukraine “with robustly equipped troops” in due course. To rule that out would be negligent.

German engagement must take place within the framework of the EU and NATO, said Kiesewetter. “A peacekeeping force is efficient and, given our limited material and human resources in Europe, realistic when peacekeeping can be priced into the European and transatlantic security architecture and thus into NATO, since the nuclear protective shield also applies to Ukraine.”