The official visit of Slovak ministers to the Russian Federation which began on Tuesday is of great importance for Slovakia's strategic interests, said Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini (Smer-SD) during the flight to Moscow. The prime minister is part of a delegation visiting Russia for four days that includes also Economy Minister Peter Žiga and Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajčák. Although the topic of the talks will be co-operation between Slovakia and Russia, the visit is primarily focused on Slovakia's strategic interests. Chief among these is the country's energy security. "We must do everything we can to guarantee the energy security of our country, which is closely connected with the Russian Federation because we take gas from the Russian Federation, we take oil, we will take nuclear fuel for our nuclear power plants, and these are the areas we're going to discuss very intensively," said the Slovak prime minister.
One issue raised by Economy Minister Žiga during the flight was that of the transit of Russian gas to Slovakia through Ukraine. The current agreement governing this arrangement is due to expire on 31 December of this year, introducing the possibility that gas could cease to flow through Ukraine as of January 2020. In spite of this, Žiga believes that negotiations with the Russian side during the current visit will guarantee the continued flow of gas after this date. He also noted that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is not yet finished but even after its completion, the European demand for natural gas from Russia will exceed the capacity of the new pipeline. This is why he believes it will be necessary to continue using the Ukrainian transit system even after 2020.
The official visit to Russia is taking place at the invitation of Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Pellegrini is also set to meet President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg.
