Slovak assistance to Ukraine comes with a catch. Selling natural gas to Slovakia’s eastern neighbour is being blocked by the Russian gas supplier Gazprom, Ukraine’s main gas supplier. This means if Slovakia wished to sell excess gas to Ukraine, they would need the agreement of the Russian supplier or face a breach of contract. Slovak-led negotiations with the Russian supplier Gazprom have failed twice already this year.
Brussels has been leading the charge to get western gas to Ukraine in order to reduce its dependency on Russia, according to the SME daily. However, if an agreement could be reached, an entirely new pipeline would need to be constructed into Ukraine, as the existing pipeline is under the control of Gazprom.
Gavin Shoebridge
