Fico Threatens to Suspend Supplies of Diesel to Ukraine

Bratislava, July 29 (TASR) - If the transit of Russian oil via Ukraine to Slovakia is not resumed soon, the Slovnaft refinery in Bratislava will suspend the supplies of diesel to Ukraine, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) has said in a video on Facebook, claiming that Ukrainian Ambassador to Slovakia Myroslav Kastran has been informed about this.

"I told [the ambassador] that we stand by the measures and statements we have made. Further implementation of this senseless sanction [the suspension of supplies oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia via Ukraine - ed. note] will only harm Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary. And Russia will be virtually unaffected. If the transit of Russian oil via Ukraine isn't resumed in the short term, Slovnaft, which covers one tenth of Ukrainian consumption, will discontinue the supplies of diesel to Ukraine," said Fico.

"Not even the problem with Ukrainian transit of Russian oil can change our attitude to the war in Ukraine. It should be ended with an immediate ceasefire, not artificially prolonged with the unrealistic aim of bringing Russia to its knees and with the realistic aim of lining the pockets of arms manufacturers even more," Fico added.

According to the premier, the Ukrainian ambassador was informed about a technical solution for importing oil from Russia via Ukraine, which Fico had proposed to the Ukrainian prime minister. "However, several countries have to participate in this. On behalf of Slovakia, I repeat that we are ready. I welcome reports which confirm that relevant commercial companies are already considering how to implement this technical solution in the shortest possible time," remarked Fico.

The premier noted that nothing prevents Slovakia from importing Russian oil in the next few years. "However, Slovnaft won't be able to export products from this oil to other countries," he added.