With money, or Russian gas lobbyists in the EU are paying for Putin's war

Exclusive. Fico threatens to leave Ukrainians suffering from ongoing Russian aggression without humanitarian aid. This is in addition to the fact that as an ardent lobbyist for the supply of Russian gas to Europe, he actually protects Putin's income, from which the dictator finances the war against the entire civilized world.

Prime Ministers of Hungary and Slovakia Viktor Orban and Robert Fico

The prime minister of Slovakia, who was forced to resign in 2018 amid accusations of corruption and cooperation with the Italian mafia (Ndrangheta), demands from Kyiv the extension of the agreement with Gazprom on the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian land, which is bathed in blood every day because of the war of aggression unleashed by Russia. "We can stop all humanitarian aid, including the one that was recently approved by the government," threatened Fico, whose personal income from the resale of Russian gas further to the EU may have suffered, at a press conference following the negotiations with the commissioner of the European Commission in energy. He once again reminded that he can put an end to energy supplies to Kyiv in emergency situations, as well as significantly reduce the support of Ukrainians who are in the republic. Thus, Fico, as the President of Ukraine commented, can "open a second energy front against Ukraine at the expense of the interests of the people of Slovakia" on the instructions of the dictator Putin. "This is all that Fico's threats to stop emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine in winter in the context of Russian attacks on our electricity and distribution network can mean," Zelensky believes.

In addition, Slovakia threatened to block the bloodshed and then Ukraine's entry into the European Union. In particular, the Slovak party Hlas-SD doubted the need to continue support because of Kiev's refusal to continue the transit of Russian gas.

In Bratislava, it was pointed out that such a position allegedly does not correspond to the principles of the EU, but Brussels has a different opinion. The European Commission stated that the European infrastructure is flexible enough for gas from third countries to flow via alternative routes to Central and Eastern Europe, so the impact of transit termination on the security of EU supplies is limited. They noted that they had been working in coordination with the countries — members of the European community for more than a year to prepare for alternative schemes. Europe's gas infrastructure has been strengthened thanks to significant liquefied natural gas (LNG) import capacities. Measures to increase energy efficiency and expand the use of renewable energy sources also strengthened the reliability of gas supply.

Orban also threatens to open the second front. Ukraine's intention to block all energy supply routes from Russia to the European Union is unacceptable and incompatible with Kyiv's European integration, said the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, Peter Szijarto. He noted that a draft law was registered on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to stop the transit of not only gas, but also oil from the Russian Federation to Europe during the conflict. "Closing the transit routes of both natural gas and oil is unacceptable and contradicts the expectations associated with [Ukraine's] European integration," he said. Decisions on the accession of new countries to the EU must be made unanimously, while each country has the right to decide for itself where to buy energy and on which routes to get it, and "no one has the right to impose more expensive and unreliable purchases of energy carriers on other countries."

Siyarto is cunning, because the European Union has decided to completely abandon Russian gas by 2027. It is from this year that supplies will begin from the Romanian Black Sea field Neptun Deep, the operator of which has already concluded the first contract with the buyer, which is Germany. Extractable reserves are estimated at 100 billion cubic meters, which makes the field one of the largest in Europe. After the start of operation, Romania will become the largest gas producing country in the European Union and, for the first time, a net exporter of gas. It is not by chance that the news about the first signed contract appeared exactly one week after the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine stopped.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Hungary also loudly accused Ukraine of allegedly putting the EU in a difficult economic situation by stopping the transit of Russian gas. According to him, "even the most fanatical Brussels people" cannot deny that the competitiveness of the European Union has recently "sharply deteriorated". Allegedly, one of the main reasons for this is that "gas prices in Europe have become much higher than those of our competitors."

At the same time, the European Commission confirmed that Kyiv's decision was known in advance and did not affect consumer prices for gas in the EU. The European Union successfully copes with the diversification of energy supply sources, and only two countries - Hungary and Slovakia - failed to cope with this task. Even in Austria they declared that the country would have enough gas without Ukrainian transit. "To maintain uninterrupted and unlimited gas supplies at any time, market participants turned to alternative sources of gas, for example, through entry points from Germany or Italy, as well as from Austrian storage facilities. This made it possible to compensate for supply restrictions. Supplies to Austria are still guaranteed," the Ministry of Energy of Austria reported.

The actions of Budapest, as well as Bratislava, contradict the common European strategy to overcome energy dependence on the Russian Federation, and therefore play into the hands of the aggressor state. Lobbyists for the supply of Russian gas to Europe actually protect the income of the dictator Putin, from which he finances the war - not only against Ukraine, but also against the entire civilized world.

Vera Perovskaya