Fico says he did not discuss Ukraine's energy blockade with Putin

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has denied that he discussed the energy blockade of Ukraine with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin during a meeting in China. Fico made the statement at a briefing in Uzhhorod.

Slovak Prime Minister says the main purpose of his visit to China was not to meet with Putin, but to participate in events commemorating the victims of World War II.

"We talked [with Putin] about bilateral cooperation. Again, we may have different views on this, but we believe that the war will end and end very quickly," Fico said.

He expressed confidence that relations with Russia will normalize after the war.

"The information you received that some kind of energy blockade of Ukraine was to be discussed is absolutely false. And this was absolutely not the subject of negotiations with Putin," the Slovak Prime Minister emphasized.

He reiterated that he had spoken with the Russian dictator about bilateral cooperation.

Russian propagandists wrote that Putin advised Fico to stop energy trade with Ukraine during the meeting.

"Ukraine receives a significant amount of energy through its neighbors in Eastern Europe. Close the gas supplies that are reversed. Cut off the supply of electricity, and they will immediately realize that there are limits to their behavior in violating other people's interests," the Russian dictator was quoted as saying by the resources of the aggressor state.

• On September 2, during a meeting with Putin in China, Fico said he planned to discuss the "inadmissibility of attacks on energy infrastructure" during a conversation with Zelenskyy on September 5, and also said that his country was "very tough" in its response to Ukraine's strikes on Russian oil pipelines.
• Later, Slovak Prime Minister said that he "drew several conclusions and messages" from the meeting with the Russian dictator that he wanted to convey to the Ukrainian president.