Slovak PM threatens to suspend diesel supplies to Ukraine

The Slovak refinery Slovnaft will suspend the supplies of diesel to Ukraine if the transit of Russian oil via Ukraine to Slovakia is not resumed soon, Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Monday, reported Xinhua.

Ukraine recently stopped the transit of oil from the Russian company Lukoil through the Druzhba pipeline to Slovakia and Hungary, having placed the company on its sanctions list in June. Slovakia's economy ministry said earlier this month that oil deliveries from Lukoil to Slovakia via Ukraine had already dried up.

In a video message published on Facebook, Fico said that "further implementation of this senseless sanction" would only harm Ukraine, Slovakia and Hungary.

"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," he said.

In a telephone conversation on Friday, Fico proposed a technical solution to his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal to resolve the dispute, which his office said would require the participation of several countries, including Slovakia.

"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," he said in Monday's video message.

Also on Monday, Slovakia's Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar said after a meeting with Hungarian Ambassador to Slovakia Csaba Balogh that the two countries have jointly called for "immediate action" from the European Commission concerning the interrupted oil supplies.

Last week, Blanar and his Hungarian counterpart Peter Szijjarto submitted a similar appeal to the European Commission, claiming that Ukraine's decision to stop Lukoil transit to Slovakia and Hungary violated the provisions of the Association Agreement concluded between the European Union and Ukraine.

According to the Slovak minister, the European Commission has requested additional information from the relevant parties. "The Commission is postponing the issue, but the people of Slovakia and Hungary cannot wait until there is a shortage of oil and therefore fuel. It will be too late then," he was quoted as saying by the News Agency of the Slovak Republic.