Slovakia is dependent on gas passing through its neighbour Ukraine, and it has ramped up efforts to maintain those flows from 2025 while criticising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for refusing to extend the contract expiring at the end of the year.

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin - becoming only the third Western leader to meet the Russian president since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.

Ukraine could consider continued transit of Russian gas on the condition that Moscow does not receive money for the fuel until after the war, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday.

A major contract governing the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine will come to end on January 1, with significant implications for Moscow’s exports to some European Union countries. “The end of the transit contract will mark an important shift because gas via Ukraine governed by the contract currently accounts for half of Russia’s remaining