Slovakia is set to discuss the supply of Russian energy resources in Moscow next week, resuming cooperation that had been suspended following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
According to Reuters, citing the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a meeting of the Russian-Slovak Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation will take place in Moscow on 26 October – this will be the first such meeting since Russia’s attack on Ukraine in 2022.
According to Ministry representatives, the meeting will focus, amongst other things, on energy issues.
“The key topic will be energy and opportunities for cooperation in ensuring the supply of strategic resources. The Slovak side is also interested in discussing gas supplies and the continuation of oil supplies,” the country’s Foreign Ministry stated.
The planned meeting is further evidence of the country’s diverging stance from that of its allies in the European Union and NATO.
The resumption of consultations followed a series of visits by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico to Moscow, including one in May this year. Fico’s stance stands out against that of other EU member states.
Slovakia, which imports Russian oil and gas, is required to cease gas imports by the end of 2027, as stipulated by the EU plan aimed at depriving Russia of the resources needed to finance its war in Ukraine.
Following lengthy preparations dating back to 2022, the European Union adopted a binding regulation on the complete phase-out of Russian gas and oil.
This regulation requires all member states to phase out Russian energy supplies by autumn 2027 — long-term contracts for liquefied natural gas (LNG) have been banned since 1 January 2027, and for pipeline gas since 30 September 2027.
As a European Commission official told Radio Free Europe, between March 2022 and July 2026, EU countries paid Russia around 197 billion euros for oil, gas and other fossil fuels, according to data from COMEXT, the European external trade statistics database.