The Slovak Republic is ready to organize reverse flow of natural gas to Ukraine. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico declared this in Bratislava on Thursday. At the same time, he assured that the interests of Slovak citizens would thereby remain protected.
“The Slovak Republic is really ready to organize reverse gas flow, but of course, we are also protecting our interests, and in particular are examining whether certain technical forms regarding reverse flow of gas to Ukraine do not pose a breach of the fundamental contract with Gazprom with possible sanctions,” Fico said. According to the Prime Minister, Slovakia is prepared to deal with the question of reverse gas flow to Ukraine, but in his words it would be optimal if representatives of Ukraine, the Russian Federation, and the European Commission would meet and jointly discuss the conditions under which our country could be part of the reverse flow project. “We are also ready to be guests at some sort of a conference or a meeting at which things would be moved further forward,” said Fico. During the press conference he repeatedly emphasized that Slovakia is ready to help, but we want guarantees. “We also want some guarantees, of course we would not send gas to someone for free, we want to know who will pay for it, whether any investments by Eustream would pay off, because this is a commercial company,” he added. He believes that only the European Commission can give us such guarantees. The Prime Minister also told reporters that he had received a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin concerning energy security in Europe.
