The Czech government intends to support Slovakia’s request to extend a special EU permit for imports of Russian oil products, otherwise fuel prices will rise sharply in the country. This was reported by the Czech newspaper Lidové noviny.
Earlier, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo said after a meeting with his Czech counterpart Petr Fiala that the leadership of Slovakia and the Czech Republic “to a certain extent” agree with the need to extend in their countries for another year the exemption from sanctions for the use of oil products from Russia.
“If Slovakia has already requested an extension of the embargo exemption or is just applying, the Czech Republic will support it,” Czech Deputy Industry Minister Rene Nedela told Lidové noviny.
The newspaper believes that if restrictions are introduced, fuel prices in the Czech Republic will rise significantly. Petrol stations will face supply difficulties and suppliers will have to find other sources of imports.
Russia now accounts for 60 per cent of all oil supplies to the Czech Republic, the newspaper says. The Czechs will also lose large supplies of fuel from Slovak company Slovnaft, because the current EU sanctions prohibit the import of fuel produced in third countries from Russian raw materials.
We shall remind you that Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier criticised the attempts of the European Union countries to completely abandon Russian energy carriers, while the entire Western economy is at “ground zero”.