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Threats to halt power supplies to Ukraine unfeasible — Ukrainian PM

Poland and other adjacent countries are ready to cooperate with Ukraine if needed, Denis Shmygal said

MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s threats to suspend electricity supplies to Ukraine have not materialized yet because European energy grid regulations make this impractical, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denis Shmygal said at the Verkhovna Rada (parliament).

"As regards imports of electricity, we are in direct contact with the European Commission. As soon as the Slovak Prime Minister threatened to halt electricity supplies to Ukraine, the [Ukrainian] Energy Ministry immediately appealed to all three institutions: the European Commission, the European Network of Transmission System Operators and the Energy Community. There was a response; we have their answers," Shmygal said, cited by the RBC-Ukraine news agency.

The Ukrainian Prime Minister also elaborated on the technical challenges involved in the matter. "Slovakia and the Slovak power grid are actually an element of the united one. Even if they were technically able to shut down their connections to Ukraine for maintenance temporarily, under the rules of the integrated market, the corresponding electricity volume would be redistributed proportionally among other supplier countries," he noted.

Poland and other adjacent countries are ready to cooperate with Ukraine if needed, Shmygal said. "Such decisions [to suspend supplies] should be made not by Slovak operators but by the united power grid. The European Commission is keeping a close eye on that," he noted. The prime minister added that there is no threat of Ukrainian electricity volumes declining, and that Kiev receives it "from Slovakia in particular," the prime minister added.

Fico said earlier that Slovakia would take tough measures against Ukraine if problems with gas transit are not resolved.

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