Zelensky: Fico wants to help Putin make money to fund war

As reported by Ukrinform, President Zelensky made this statement on social media platform X.

According to Zelensky, after their meeting in Moscow, Fico and Putin refrained from making joint statements or answering media questions.

Zelensky suggests they avoided public comments about the meeting’s discussions because they are afraid of the public’s reaction.

In the Ukrainian leader’s view, “Moscow provides significant discounts to Fico, but Slovakia pays for them.” Zelensky highlighted that such discounts are not free — they come at the expense of sovereignty or murky schemes, which should be a matter of concern for Slovakia’s law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

He added that the details of such financial dealings were disclosed during a recent meeting of European leaders in Brussels.

“Leaders observed that Mr. Fico does not want to participate in the common European work on energy independence or seek replacement for Russian gas, but rather wants to assist Russia in pushing American gas and energy resources of other partners away from Europe, implying that he wants to help Putin earn money to fund the war and weaken Europe. We are losing people as a result of the war that Putin started, and we believe that such assistance to Putin is immoral,” Ukraine’s President emphasized.

According to Zelensky, Fico even rejected compensatory measures to ease the transition period and get rid of dependence on Russian gas. For Fico, “this is not security issue.”

“He is interested specifically in the Russian gas and the matter’s worth is 500 million U.S. dollars per year. Other profits come from the oil pipe that runs through the Ukrainian territory and gives another 500 million U.S. dollars per year, which helps Mr. Fico. That is why his key goal is to deal with Russia, and this is what benefits him. This is indeed a big security issue — both for Slovakia and the entire Europe. Why is this leader so dependent on Moscow? What is being paid to him, and what does he pay with?” Zelensky stressed.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico flew to Moscow on December 22 to meet with Putin.

Fico claimed that the visit was a response to Ukraine’s refusal to continue the transit of Russian gas to Europe.

This year marks the expiration of the contract between Ukraine’s Naftogaz and Russia’s Gazprom for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced that the Ukraine-Russia gas transit agreement, set to expire on January 1, 2025, will not be renewed.

President Zelensky stated that Ukraine is ready to transit gas to European countries, provided it is not of Russian origin.