Slovakia’s President Peter Pellegrini and members of the left-right cabinet of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico are threatening Ukraine with “retaliatory measures” over the halted Russian oil imports through the Druzhba (Friendship) pipeline.

Ukraine’s tightened sanctions against Russian oil giant Lukoil have led to a decreased flow of Russian oil into Hungary and Slovakia, and Hungarian chief diplomat Peter Szijjarto said earlier this week that “Hungary and Slovakia’s oil security is at risk”. Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia are exempted from the EU's sanctions on Russian oil due to their high dependency on it. 

“I firmly believe that on the Ukrainian [side] this will be put in order as soon as possible, because Slovakia as a sovereign country will eventually have to resort to some retaliatory measures, and this would not be to the benefit of Ukraine nor its citizens, nor any one of us in this region,” Pellegrini declared at a press conference with Minister of Defence Robert Kalinak in Bratislava on July 24.

Pellegrini’s statement comes a day after Szijjarto said Hungary will block the disbursement of the European Peace Facility (EPF) for Ukraine until Kyiv allows the transit of oil from Russia’s Lukoil through Druzhba.  

Pellegrini also stated that “in key situations” Slovakia has “acted as a responsible neighbour and a good partner in relationship to Ukraine”, recalling the reversed gas flow which helped “supply Ukraine in times when it did not have enough gas”.

He recalled the humanitarian aid Slovakia provides to Ukraine and the defence systems the country provided under the previous cabinets to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian full-scale invasion.

Slovakia had been one of the staunchest backers of Kyiv before Fico’s cabinet axed the state military aid to Ukraine. Despite his aggressive Kremlin-pleasing rhetoric at home, Fico’s cabinet members have maintained a more ambivalent stance on the international stage.

Fico has openly allied with Hungarian radical right-wing strongman Viktor Orban, despite coming from the opposite ends of the left-right divide on the political spectrum.

Pellegrini adopted Fico’s aggressive style to secure himself a victory in the run-off presidential race in April but pledged impartiality and stepped down as the chairman of the centre-left Hlas party, a key coalition ally of Fico’s leftist Smer, before being inaugurated as the country’s new president in June.

Strong statements against Ukraine from other members of Fico’s cabinet followed, including that of minister of interior and Hlas’ new chairman, Matus Sutaj Estok, who said that “Ukraine has chosen a way to blackmail Slovakia and Hungary”, adding that “it has made this step even though we were one of the first ones who provided it [Ukraine] with significant humanitarian aid after the military conflict on its territory erupted”.