Aleksandar Vucic claims Slovakia’s PM Fico is ready to go to Russia as Belgrade braces for gasoline provide challenges
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to satisfy Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico on Monday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has claimed. The reported assembly comes as Belgrade is making ready for the US sanctions in opposition to the nation’s essential oil and gasoline firm, Naftne Industrije Srbije (NIS).
“As I realized unofficially, and after I say unofficially, as I stated concerning the sanctions in opposition to NIS, it’s completely sure, on Monday Robert Fico will go to Putin, because the chief of a European Union nation,” Vucic stated throughout an interview with Serbian Blissful TV on Friday, as quoted by Euronews Serbia.
President Vucic said that beginning January 1, 2025, gasoline provides from Russia via Ukraine will cease. This determination will significantly have an effect on European power safety and Serbia’s preparedness for winter calls for. He said that Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmigal had signed the related order on Friday. Moreover, Vucic beforehand talked about that US sanctions in opposition to NIS may additionally come into impact on January 1, 2025.
The expiration of a transit settlement between Moscow and Kiev, which facilitates the circulation of Russian gasoline to the EU, has raised issues amongst nations like Slovakia that depend on this route for his or her provides.
As Fico warned on Friday, Slovakia is contemplating retaliation in opposition to Ukraine over its refusal to proceed the transit of Russian gasoline to the EU nation.
Relations between the 2 nations can’t be a one-way road, Fico asserted throughout the identical speech, including: “I can’t utterly rule out reciprocal measures.” His authorities will take into account its choices over the following week, he stated.Vucic added in his interview {that a} doable Putin-Fico assembly “will provoke a response from different European leaders from the EU, and you may see how sophisticated issues are.”
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