- Bloomberg
WARSAW: Poland is prepared to step up electricity exports to Ukraine if Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico follows through on his threat to cut off back-up power supplies to the war-torn country, a senior official has said.
The Polish government stands ready to boost domestic power production to compensate for any imbalances that Ukraine’s strained system would suffer in the event of a Slovak move, according to the official, who asked not to be identified as the talks are private.
Warsaw’s assurances come amid an escalating row over the future of gas transit through Ukraine.
Fico made the threat two days ago, when he said Slovakia would stop supplying electricity that Ukraine urgently needs during network outages, if necessary.
Almost three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Bratislava still relies on cheap gas from Gazprom PJSC, undermining a push by the European Union to reduce reliance on Russian energy. The clock is ticking on Russian gas flows through Ukraine to Europe, which are set to end on Dec 31 when the current arrangement expires.
While Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeatedly stated he won’t permit gas that benefits the Kremlin’s war machine to transit his country from January, he has signalled he’d be open to transporting the fuel from countries other than Russia. — Bloomberg
