Slovakia is no longer against anti-Russian sanctions, but demands guarantees from the EU

Slovakia asks to postpone the vote on anti-Russian sanctions. This was announced today, June 24, by the Prime Minister of the Republic Robert Fico.

According to him, the vote should not be held until the issue of disconnecting Europe from strategic raw materials from Russia. Thus, the Slovak Prime Minister supported the statement of the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Juraj Blanar, who said yesterday that Bratislava is ready to support the 18th package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, but requires guarantees and support from the European Union to mitigate the consequences due to the cessation of energy supplies.

Recall, Slovakia and Hungary previously stated that they would block the adoption of a new package of sanctions against Russia, as it could cause irreparable damage to their economies. Later, the head of the Slovak Foreign Ministry said that disconnection from energy sources from the Russian Federation would affect not only the growth of their prices, but also the growth of tariffs for the transportation of such goods. At the same time, on June 23, he said that the Slovak government evaluates each package of sanctions taking into account whether it can harm the national economy, and the adoption of new restrictions is possible only if the EU provides "guarantees" and support to mitigate the consequences of disconnection from Russian energy resources. We are talking about an amount of up to 20 billion euros.