Slovakia PM threatens to cut off benefits for Ukrainian refugees as Kyiv shuts Russian gas supply – Firstpost

Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico on Thursday threatened to cut financial support to Ukrainian refugees as the dispute between Moscow and Kyiv over gas supplies across Europe escalates. On January 1, Ukraine announced that it was shutting down a pipeline which provided Russian national gas to central European nations for decades.

Slovakia was miffed with the new orders from Ukraine since it now stands to lose millions of euros in transit fees for natural gas. The latest warning from the Solvakian premier came a month after the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) estimated that there were around 130,530 Ukrainian refugees in the Central European nation out of 6,813,900 globally, BBC reported.

In December, Fico made a surprise visit to Russia where he met the country’s President Vladimir Putin. At that time Fico described Ukraine’s decision to shut down the pipeline as “sabotage”.

Slovakian PM threatened the Ukrainian refugees

On Thursday, the Prime Minister of the EU-member nation said that he would propose halting electricity exports to Ukraine and also “sharply reduce” financial support to Ukrainians who are seeking refugee in Slovakia.

He maintained that while there was no risk of Slovakia itself suffering from gas shortages, as it had already made alternative arrangements, the shutting down of the pipeline would affect the whole of Central Europe, BBC reported. Fico maintained that Zelenskyy’s decision to turn off the tap would also deprive Slovakia of 500 million Euros in transit fees from other nations.

He insisted that his government was ready to debate “halting supplies of electricity” and the “significant lowering of support for Ukrainian citizens in Slovakia”. “The only alternative for a sovereign Slovakia is a renewal of transit or demanding compensation mechanisms that will replace the loss in public finances,” Fico furthered.

After Fico visited Russia last month, Zelenskyy accused him of helping Putin to “fund the ongoing war” against Ukraine. “Fico is dragging Slovakia into Russia’s attempts to cause more suffering for Ukrainians,” the Ukrainian leader said at that time. Meanwhile, Poland has offered support to Kyiv if Slovakia cut off electricity supplies which is crucial for the war-stricken nation during the winters.

The Polish government went on to call Kyiv’s decision to shutdown of Russian gas supplies “another victory” against Moscow while the European Commission said the EU had prepared for the change and most states could cope. However, Moldova, which is not an EU member is gravely suffering from the new shortages. While Russia is cut off from supplying natural gas to several Central European nations, it can still send gas to Hungary, Turkey and Serbia through the TurkStream pipeline across the Black Sea.

With inputs from agencies.