Slovakia to Stop Diesel Exports to Ukraine If Oil Transit Is Not Resumed, Warns PM
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Slovakia to Stop Diesel Exports to Ukraine If Oil Transit Is Not Resumed, Warns PM
Loveworld / 38 mins
July 30, 2024
1 min read
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced on Monday that Slovakia would halt diesel exports to Ukraine unless Kyiv restores oil transit from the Russian group Lukoil. This statement came as a response to Kyiv’s recent sanctions on Lukoil, which disrupted oil flow to Slovak and Hungarian refineries.
Fico warned in a Facebook video message that if the transit of Russian crude through Ukraine is not promptly resumed, Slovak refiner Slovnaft would cease diesel supplies to Ukraine. Currently, oil deliveries from other Russian suppliers to Ukraine remain unaffected.
Slovakia’s diesel exports represent about 10% of Ukraine’s diesel consumption. Fico mentioned that he proposed a technical solution to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Friday, although details were not disclosed. He noted that the solution would require coordination among several countries.
This situation highlights the ongoing dependency of some EU countries on Russian energy, even after the bloc’s decision to halt oil imports from Moscow over two years ago. Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic have been granted exemptions from the ban to allow time for finding alternative sources.
