Slovakia declares oil emergency
The Slovakian government has declared an oil emergency after the country was cut off from oil supplies flowing from Russia via Ukraine through the Druzhba pipeline at the end of January. According to Ukrainian sources, the pipeline was damaged by Russian bombing. However Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused the Ukrainian leadership of deliberately preventing the resumption of supplies.
Fico bet on the wrong horse
Slovakia has only itself to blame for its problems, comments Denník N:
“Dependence on Russian oil at a time when it is attacking Ukraine is not only immoral, but also impractical and risky due to the possibility of attacks. ... Prime Minister Fico has now claimed that Slovakia has intelligence data indicating that the damaged oil hub near the Ukrainian city of Brody has already been repaired and that oil can flow unhindered. ... He made no mention whatsoever of the fact that the cause was a Russian attack. ... Energy blackmail is one of the pillars of Russian geopolitics and the reason why many countries have diversified their raw materials sources. Slovakia is clearly lagging behind in this regard, partly for political reasons.”
The EU stands by Ukraine
Brussels is unlikely to put pressure on Kyiv, wPolityce.pl predicts:
“Given that the Ukrainians definitively stopped gas transit on 31 December 2024, it was to be expected that sooner or later they would also block oil transit. ... The EU wants to finally stop importing energy from Russia next year. There are many indications that even if the Hungarian and Slovakian authorities challenge the regulations on this matter before the European Court of Justice it will do little to change this. It is to be expected that now, as when Kyiv ended Russian gas transit, the European Commission will not exert any pressure on Ukraine to restore oil deliveries via the Druzhba pipeline.”