MOSCOW, February 18. /TASS/. The termination of electricity supplies to Ukraine from Slovakia, from where Ukrainians receive a fifth of this resource, will be a serious blow to Kiev, Alexander Dudchak, a leading researcher at the Institute of CIS Countries and an expert of the Other Ukraine movement, said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said Slovakia may stop to supply power to Ukraine because Kiev had terminated oil transit to the republic via the Druzhba pipeline. The Slovak government has declared a crisis situation in the country because of the oil shortage, Pravda news portal reported.

"Of course, it would be a serious blow. Slovakia seems a small country, but it currently provides a fifth of the electricity [in Ukraine]. The Ukrainian regime brought it to this point - Ukraine has always been an exporter of electricity, there were nuclear power plants and others. But consumption was at a completely different level, which indicated the degree of development of industry and technology. What they have reached now is a direct consequence of everything that was launched in 2014, when the coup was staged," the expert said in an interview with TASS.

However, Dudchak admits that Fico's statement, like similar warnings from Hungary, will remain threats. "First of all, they profit gtom it. Secondly, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban spoke about his unwillingness to cause a humanitarian catastrophe, he does not want refugees. I think Slovakia is following the same example and will only threaten, but will do nothing. Although, of course, they could punish [Vladimir] Zelensky, his rudeness is off the scale."

Dudchak said that the European supranational bodies ignore Zelensky's antics, because they can use Ukraine to punish the countries that show independent will and sovereignty. "This is why Zelensky is not afraid of any punishment, because as long as Europe is like this, at least the central supranational bodies, he will get away with everything. I think European countries themselves would like to shut off the taps to Budapest and Bratislava, but as long as Ukraine is so convenient, they use it," the expert said.

Blocking of transit in Ukraine

On February 3, oil industry sources told TASS that Ukrtransnafta, which transits oil through Ukraine, would not resume crude supplies to Slovakia and Hungary. According to the sources, on February 6, the company fixed an emergency situation at the Brody station in Ukraine, but oil pumping has not yet resumed.

On February 15, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said that Hungary and Slovakia had asked Croatia to allow transportation of Russian oil via the Adriatic pipeline, as Ukraine had blocked supplies via the Druzhba oil pipeline. Szijjarto accused Zelensky of blocking oil supplies through Druzhba to create difficulties for the government ahead of the parliamentary elections.