The proposal that Robert Fico visit Kiev was like a request to meet for a beer, Deputy Speaker Tibor Gaspar has said
Slovak Deputy Parliament Speaker Tibor Gaspar has criticized Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky for his overly informal invitation to visit Kiev to the country’s prime minister, Robert Fico, amid a tense dispute over the transit of Russian gas.
Kiev has refused to renew a contract with Moscow which expired at the end of last year. The agreement allowed Russian gas to be supplied via Ukraine to consumers in Europe, including Slovakia, which views Ukraine’s move as a blow to its energy security.
Gaspar took issue with Zelensky’s response to an open letter in which Fico urged further negotiations on the matter. Zelensky shared screenshots of the message on X on Monday, in which he replied: “Ok. Come to Kyiv on Friday.”
The deputy speaker criticized the tone, telling the media that it looks like a request to a friend to come “for a beer at a pub.” Zelensky and Fico are not pals, he added, so “I criticize such forms of official communication with our prime minister.”
The remarks were published on Thursday by Russian journalist Olga Skabeeva. Gaspar visited Moscow earlier this week along with a delegation of other Slovak officials.
As a candidate for EU membership, Ukraine must respect the interests of its members when making policy decisions, the Slovak lawmaker said. The suspension of the gas transit will result in damage in the tens of billions of euros in the EU, he warned.
Fico declined to visit Kiev this Friday at Zelensky’s call. Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar has suggested that a bilateral meeting between the two leaders could take place next week on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Relations between Zelensky and Fico have soured over the transit issue and the Slovak leader’s visit to Moscow in late December, where he discussed possible solutions with President Vladimir Putin.
Fico has accused Zelensky of offering him €500 million in exchange for supporting Ukraine’s bid to join NATO – which Zelensky claimed was a mischaracterization of his offer. The Ukrainian leader hit back by calling on Slovak law enforcement to investigate the prime minister for corruption after his Moscow trip.
