BRATISLAVA, July 18. /TASS/. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said his country would not block the 18th package of the European Union’s anti-Russian sanctions on July 18, Reuters reported.
"At this point, my dear friends, it would be counter-productive to continue and block the 18th package of sanctions tomorrow," Fico said in a video message on Facebook (banned in Russia, owned by the Meta corporation recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation). "All opportunities for negotiations [with the European Commission to grant Slovakia’s demand that gas deliveries continue at an acceptable price and in acceptable volumes] have been exhausted for now. I’m giving instructions to our representatives to the EU to give green light to the adoption of the 18th package of sanctions."
Fico added that Slovakia "vetoed the 18th package of EU anti-Russian sanctions six times," in defiance of "threats, harsh words and criticism."
In his words, Bratislava has received certain guarantees from the European Commission that if Russian gas supplies stop, it will continue to receive the necessary fuel.
"Today, on July 17, we completed the first stage of the fight against the European Commission’s imbecile proposal to stop any deliveries of Russian gas to the European Union from January 1, 2028. I’ve repeated it a thousand times that it’s an ideological proposal, put forward out of obsession with Russia," he said, adding that the initiative "harms the entire EU in general and Slovakia in particular.".