The Ukrainian government explained why they missed the “gas” consultations in Brussels

Consultations between Ukraine, Slovakia and the European Commission, scheduled for January 7 and ultimately canceled, were supposed to take place at the initiative of Kyiv and primarily concern the issue of electricity exports to Ukraine. This was announced by the Ministry of Energy, responding to RFE/RL’s request.

As noted in the department, the transit of gas from Russia through the territory of Ukraine should not have been the subject of discussion.

“Ukraine initiated the meeting solely to discuss the conditions and consequences of a possible unilateral termination of electricity supplies to Ukraine by the Slovak side. The issue of transportation of Russian gas was not on the agenda of these consultations,” said the comment.

The Ministry of Energy explained that the consultations did not take place because the relevant minister Herman Galushchenko remained in Ukraine “to resolve urgent issues, in particular those related to the restoration of the energy system after the Russian terrorist attacks.”

RFE/RL also asked the Ministry of Energy for a comment on Ukraine’s possible involvement in the discussions within the working group, the creation of which was agreed by Slovakia and the European Commission on January 9 in Brussels. Within its limits, the consequences of Ukraine’s cancellation of Russian gas transit will be discussed. Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fitzo believes that the Ukrainian side should also participate.

Ambassador of Ukraine to the EU Vsevolod Chentsov when asked by Radio Svoboda why the representatives of Ukraine did not join the meeting on January 9, he noted that the meeting of European Commission officials with Slovak government officials “regarded internal issues” and that Kyiv “maintains contacts with the European Commission on issues of our agenda.”

The head of the Slovak government, who personally met with the European Commissioner for Energy on January 9 in Brussels by Dan Jorgensen, following the negotiations, he again repeated the threat to limit the export of electricity to Ukraine from Slovakia.

RFE/RL also asked the Ministry of Energy to explain how this would affect the electricity situation in the country, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to comment on Fico’s new threats, in particular, to block aid decisions at the EU level, as Hungary does. We will publish the answers as soon as they arrive.

Ukraine stopped the transportation of Russian natural gas through its territory on January 1 at 07:00 “in the interests of national security”.

The main European importers of Russian gas, Slovakia and Austria, have already secured alternative supply routes, although Fico said there would be “dramatic consequences” for the entire European Union, demanding the resumption of transit. If this does not happen, the Slovak prime minister did not rule out stopping the export of electricity to Ukraine and reducing aid to Ukrainian refugees, of whom there are about 130,000 in Slovakia.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, in his turn assumed that Robert Fitso, who was received by Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, “received an order to open a second energy front against Ukraine.”