Slovakia has the right to be the first country to receive potential compensation for a cut in Russian gas supplies, because it complied with all of its European Union obligations, Economy Minister Peter Pavlis said on RTVS's political debate on Sunday.
He added that he has tasked the ministry's state secretary with holding talks with the European Commissioner for Energy, Gunther Oettinger, on the issue of compensation from the EU. Slovakia received 43.1 percent of its usual amount of gas from Russia on Sunday and 44.7 percent on Saturday. “The drop is still lower than consumption in Slovakia. If a crisis situation were to occur, we're ready to step in”, said the minister. Independent MP and former economy minister Juraj Miškov said that Slovakia lacks a strategy for the diversification of imports of oil, gas and nuclear fuel. "We're reliant on Russia, which uses energy and raw materials as tools of extortion against other countries. But we're obliged to protect the interests of our people and come up with solutions that will free us from being held hostage by Russia”, said Miškov.
