Slovakia has lined up with Hungary in a widening dispute with Ukraine and the European Union over energy, aid and sanctions.
Speaking on Monday, Prime Minister Robert Fico echoed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s hard line, backing pressure on Ukraine over the suspended Druzhba pipeline and warning that Slovakia could reconsider its support for Kyiv on key issues.
Hungary and Slovakia, whose leaders have maintained closer ties with Moscow than most EU governments, blame Kyiv for an outage on the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies their refineries with Russian crude pumped through Ukraine.
Fico’s Moscow ties raise concerns
Over the past year, Fico has repeatedly signaled in meetings and public remarks that Slovakia intends to keep importing Russian gas, while sharply criticizing European Union energy policy. At his most recent face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing in September 2025, Fico said Slovakia was “extremely interested in standardization of relations” with Russia.
That position runs directly against EU policy, which aims to end dependence on Russian energy in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
While much of the EU has treated the war as a reason to decouple from Russia, Fico and Orban have moved in the opposite direction.
Druzhba outage fuels tensions
The Druzhba pipeline, which runs from Russia through Ukrainian territory to Slovakia and Hungary, is at the heart of the dispute. It has been out of service since late January, when Ukraine said a Russian drone strike damaged infrastructure in western Ukraine.
Hungary and Slovakia blame Kyiv for the outage. Ukraine has rejected that, saying the original disruption was caused by Russian attacks and that repairs take time.
For Kyiv, the dispute is another example of the pressure it faces from some neighbors even as it remains under daily assault from Moscow.
Fico’s energy dispute with Brussels
The row over Druzhba fits into Fico’s wider opposition to the EU’s efforts to reduce dependence on Russian energy. On Jan. 27, he said Slovakia would file a lawsuit at the European Court of Justice to challenge the bloc’s ban on Russian gas imports.
Fico has described the phase-out of Russian fuel as “energy suicide” and an “ideological, senseless, and harmful” policy, warning it could drive domestic gas prices sharply higher.
He has also argued that Slovakia’s reliance on Russian gas is a matter of geography rather than ideology, saying alternative routes such as the Adriatic pipeline are more costly and not yet fully proven.
Kyiv rejects the threats
Kyiv has responded sharply to threats from both Bratislava and Budapest.
After Fico warned that Slovakia could halt emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine unless oil flows resumed, Ukraine said it rejected what it called “ultimatums and blackmail.” Ukrainian officials said such demands should be directed at the Kremlin, not at a country defending itself against Russian aggression.
Kyiv’s position is that energy disputes cannot be separated from the reality of Russia’s war, especially when Ukrainian infrastructure continues to come under attack.
EU stays firm on plan to phase out Russian energy
The European Commission has also challenged Fico directly. Brussels said Slovakia’s recent diesel restrictions, including higher prices for foreign-registered vehicles, violated EU non-discrimination rules and the single market, and warned that legal action could follow if the measures were not reversed.
The Commission has rejected arguments from Bratislava and Budapest that supply concerns justify breaking EU rules. Brussels says all actions must follow the bloc’s legal framework and support the phase-out of Russian energy.