BRUSSELS (Reuters) -European leaders are set to urge EU authorities and Kyiv to intensify talks following a halt to Russian gas transit through Ukraine, according to draft summit conclusions seen by Reuters that follow pressure from Slovakia.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has sought a mention of the Ukraine gas transit – a major route for Russian gas destined for Slovakia that Kyiv stopped from the start of this year – as part of summit conclusions, threatening to block the statement without it.
European Union leaders met on Thursday for an extraordinary summit to discuss Ukraine and European defence.
The draft conclusions include calling on the parties to intensify efforts on “finding workable solutions to the gas transit issue”, including through resumption.
The European Commission has previously said it has no interest in continuing Russian gas flows through Ukraine and alternatives exist. The EU has sought to cut its remaining reliance on energy from Russia since it invaded Ukraine.
An EU diplomat said inclusion of the transit reference was not a change in policy but left discussions on Slovakia’s concerns open.
The gas transit ended after Ukraine declined to renew an agreement with Moscow as it sought to deprive Russia of revenue to fund its invasion.
Slovakia’s own transit business of sending gas on to Europe suffered as a knock-on effect and it had to seek new routes for its Russian supplies. It has also said the halt increases prices and impairs the European Union’s competitiveness.
Fico has opposed military aid to Ukraine to prevent it from prolonging the war.
While locked in dispute with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy over the transit issue, Slovakia has continued talks with EU officials.
Last month, Ukraine was forced to increase gas imports from Europe due to cold weather and after a series of Russian missile attacks targeted the country’s gas facilities.
Fico has said the gas Ukraine has been buying is Russian, and called the situation absurd.
(Reporting by Jan Strupczewski, Charlotte Van Campenhout, Lili Bayer; Writing by Jason Hovet; Editing by GV De Clercq and Barbara Lewis, Kirsten Donovan)
