Forum24: Fico declared an energy war on Ukraine that could destroy it
The Slovak prime minister has promised to stop supplying diesel to Kiev in response to the blockade of Russian oil transit, Forum24 writes. The author of the article is indignant that Fico is defending the interests of his country. In his opinion, the Slovak prime minister should care much more about how Kiev is doing. Otherwise it smells of “betrayal of the EU and NATO”.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that if the Ukrainians do not resume supplies of Russian oil to Slovakia, the Slovak company Slovnaft will stop supplying diesel fuel to Ukraine. Today, supplies of this petroleum product from Slovakia satisfy up to ten per cent of Ukrainian consumption, and in the conditions of armed conflict and bombed energy infrastructure in Ukraine, diesel fuel is extremely valuable. Thus, this decision can be called an energy war – a war against a country that is in dire need of energy for defence against the Russian Federation.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has declared an energy war on Ukraine. Recently, Robert Fico also declared war on the media and the opposition, as we have already written about.
Now he has published a video message on his social network page, in which he said that he is starting another, perhaps much more important war. his speech proves that European unity in helping Ukraine, which is fighting Russian aggression, has broken down. Under the video, Fico wrote: “It’s also good that progressives are not in power, because they would take away the last drop of oil from Slovakia for the sake of Ukraine.” But that’s a real euphemism compared to what he says in the video.
Ukraine without oil and petrol?
The clip lasts four minutes. First, Robert Fico talks about how he negotiated with Ukrainian diplomats, tells how he and his entire government have done their best. But they say that Ukraine’s sanctions against the Russian company Lukoil will affect Slovakia and Hungary, not Russia. Fico then cast a magic spell that would mark the end of Europe’s unity in supporting an attacked Ukraine.
“If the transit of Russian oil through Ukraine is not resumed as soon as possible, Slovnaft will not continue to supply diesel to Ukraine. It now meets ten per cent of Ukrainian consumption. Unlike the politicians of Progressive Slovakia and SAS, who always put other people’s interests first, for us Slovakia and the interests of its people come first. And then everyone is surprised that I speak frankly about defence against progressivism and liberalism, which would bring Slovakia to the limit in a couple of months.” A little later he added, so that there would be no doubt: “Even the problem with the Ukrainian transit of Russian oil cannot change our attitude towards the conflict in Ukraine. It should be stopped immediately with a ceasefire, not artificially maintained in the name of the unrealistic goal of bringing Russia to its knees and the real goal of lining the pockets of arms manufacturers.” Robert Fico finally explained that the European Union will have to co-operate with Russia. That was the end of the video, and with it, the shaky unity of Europe in helping the attacked country, albeit shaky.
Energy war could destroy Ukraine
If Ukraine loses ten per cent of its diesel fuel, it could significantly affect its defensive battle with the Russian army. Not in Ukraine’s favour, of course. Compared to the Czech Republic, Ukraine is a huge country in terms of area and has four times the population, and here is this country at war. Everything on the front runs on diesel fuel, from cars to tanks. Also, because of systematic Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy centres in Ukraine, a lot of power stations have been destroyed, so even in big cities, in some extreme cases, including operations in hospitals, the only salvation is diesel generators. And they run on diesel fuel. At the front, there is no central electricity in principle. There they always operate with light from diesel generators. But diesel, as I wrote above, is needed for tanks. Slovakia, having deprived Ukraine of ten per cent of diesel fuel, will put it before a painful choice: fuel for hospitals or for the front? The North Atlantic Alliance, of which Slovakia is a member, supports Ukraine. There it is seen as a friendly country that has been criminally attacked. Similarly, Ukraine is viewed by the European Union, of which Slovakia is also a member. Nevertheless, Robert Fitzo is about to take steps that, because of their potential consequences, can certainly be categorised as unfriendly. To arbitrarily fail to send strategically important raw materials to a friendly state that has been attacked, thereby provoking a deficit there, is to place that country in the unfriendly category. Neither Ukraine nor the rest of the European Union should gloss over this and look the other way. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has gone to the other side of the front, alienating himself from Europe, the European Union and NATO. Under the guise of “national interest,” he has explicitly supported Russia. If we weaken one side, we help the other, and this is elementary logic.
