Robert Fico has said he rejected a proposed €500 million in exchange for backing Ukraine’s NATO bid
FILE PHOTO: Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky during a press conference in Brussels on December 19, 2024. © Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky has confirmed that he offered money to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico during their recent meeting in Brussels, amid a row between the two nations over the transit of Russian gas.
Kiev intends to cut supplies of Russian fuel through its territory when a five-year transit contract expires at the end of the year, which Slovakia says would undermine its energy security. After a meeting of EU leaders with Zelensky last week, Fico claimed he had rejected an offer of €500 million ($520 million) in exchange for Bratislava’s backing of the Ukrainian bid to join NATO. Zelensky disputed the reason for his proposal in a post on X on Tuesday.
“We offered him solutions regarding potential compensation for Slovaks – the Slovaks specifically – for losses from Russian transit, as well as alternatives for transit – any other gas, not Russian, at the request of the European Commission,” he wrote.
Zelensky reiterated his previous allegations that Fico’s policies are motivated by “personal gain” under “murky schemes” with Moscow. The Ukrainian leader first made the unsubstantiated claims when reacting to Fico’s visit to Russia last Sunday, where he met President Vladimir Putin to discuss the situation with gas supplies.
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The €500 million that Fico mentioned during a press conference would come from Russian national assets, which Kiev claims it has the right to use as it sees fit. Western nations have frozen some $300 billion in funds kept by Moscow in their jurisdiction, after the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022.
Brussels has rejected calls by Kiev and Washington to seize the immobilized money, saying that the move would deal a blow to the euro and the bloc’s financial system. Russia has warned that it would retaliate against the “theft” of its property.
Fico has warned that a “serious conflict” with Kiev would develop if Zelensky “doesn’t release our gas.” Ukraine has been transporting Russian-origin energy to European consumers since Soviet times.
The Slovak prime minister is a dissenter among Western leaders, as he opposes continued military assistance to Kiev and urges a negotiated resolution of the tensions with Russia.