Poland Ready to Help Ukraine If Fico Cuts Off Power in Gas Spat

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-12-29/poland-ready-to-help-ukraine-if-fico-cuts-off-power-in-gas-spat

by madever

21 comments

  1. Poland is prepared to step up electricity exports to Ukraine if Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico follows through on his threat to cut off back-up power supplies to the war-torn country, a senior official said on Sunday.

    The Polish government stands ready to boost domestic power production to compensate for any imbalances that Ukraine’s strained system would suffer in the event of a Slovak move, according to the official, who asked not to be identified as the talks are private.

    Warsaw’s assurances come amid an escalating row over the future of gas transit through Ukraine. Fico made the threat two days ago, when he said Slovakia would stop supplying electricity that Ukraine urgently needs during network outages, if necessary. Almost three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Bratislava still relies on cheap gas from Gazprom PJSC, undermining a push by the European Union to reduce reliance on Russian energy.

    The clock is ticking on Russian gas flows through Ukraine to Europe, which are set to end on Dec. 31 when the current arrangement expires. While Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly stated he won’t permit gas that benefits the Kremlin’s war machine to transit his country from January, he has signaled he’d be open to transporting the fuel from countries other than Russia if the European Commission so requests.

    The commission, which before the war helped broker transit agreements between Kyiv and Moscow, is staying out of negotiations. Instead, it has stressed that alternatives sources are available and that the region’s gas storage levels are high.

    While the EU aims to phase out sourcing fossil fuels from Russia by 2027, gas hasn’t been part of sanctions the bloc has taken against Moscow since the February 2022 invasion. That means companies are still permitted to conclude contracts and continue imports if those agreements are in line with existing EU regulations.

    Energy analysts have pointed out that, even if a deal is reached to continue transit via Ukraine, it will only be temporary as the commission prepares a roadmap to end the bloc’s energy imports from Russia. That strategy is set to be unveiled in February.

    Russia has stepped up missile and drone attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure since March, destroying about half its power-generating capacities and causing blackouts across the country. Ukraine heavily relies on imports, including from Slovakia.

    Slovakia continues to receive Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline that transits Ukraine. Kyiv could halt those supplies in a possible counter-move, if Slovakia does stop electricity exports, a separate person familiar with the situation said on Saturday.

  2. ….until the farmers or truckers get angry again, or Tusk needs to appease the anti-Ukrainians for the upcoming presidential elections.

  4. And Poland is gonna be the EU boss for half a year since Jan 2025 so F U Fico and F your Master P

  8. Polish farmers doing what they did at any time would prove to be a negative. To do it when Ukraine is, unlike Poland, fighting for their very existence was hard to bear even for non-Ukrainians. I’m British and about as pro-Polish as it’s possible to be but even I was calling the Poles arse holes during those actions by farmers! Just f—— deplorable behaviour and timing, some might even say specifically orchestrated!

  9. Thank you, Poland! 🇵🇱

    But please, no more coal burning, I can barely breathe outside anymore.

  13. Surprise, surprise, we don’t take kindly to our most important allies being undermined.

  14. Fico already lost €500 million in compensation for not acting on the imminent gas shutoff in time. Now he’s bound to lose another €200 million in revenue from electricity to Ukraine. He can’t reign in government spending, so he’s been raising taxes and locking people in their jobs with threats of imprisonment (which will only encourage them to leave the country). Fico has been proving over the last year that he is a political dilettante, only able to go with the flow when times are good or the previous government left him with functioning economy. In harder times, he has no idea what to do.

  16. My understanding is that the gas transit contract expires and a new one hasn’t been negotiated. What does Fico expect, that Ukraine should let ruzzian gas flow through its pipelines for free? Lmao.

  18. Ah, Poland talking the talk without ever commiting to the walk.

  19. I’m not sure why the Polish government would need to do anything. If Slovakia can prevent direct exports of electricity to Ukraine, then the market system should automatically redirect Slovakia’s surpluses to Ukraine through Poland and Hungary, within the physical limits of the cables and transformers.

  20. >Slovakia continues to receive Russian oil through the Druzhba pipeline that transits Ukraine. Kyiv could halt those supplies in a possible counter-move, if Slovakia does stop electricity exports, [..]

    This seems like the kind of douple nutpunch any leader would like to avoid. Seems Fico really disliked his national energy market.

  21. Fuck fico with a pineapple up his ass, orban, musk, trump, Putin, xi… they are all the same scumbags who want to protect women, whether they like it or not.

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