Slovakia says Fico cannot come to Ukraine to see Zelenskyy

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has declined President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's invitation to visit Kyiv for discussions on gas transit.

As reported by TASS, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet, Slovak Parliament Deputy Speaker Tibor Gašpar, currently on a multi-day trip to Russia with Slovak National Party leader Andrej Danko, stated that Prime Minister Robert Fico will not visit Kyiv.  

"Yesterday, Prime Minister Fico published an open letter to Zelenskyy, inviting him to negotiations. Zelenskyy responded, proposing a meeting in Kyiv on Friday. That is not possible. I don’t think it will happen," Gašpar said.  

On 13 January, Fico sent an open letter to Zelenskyy, inviting the Ukrainian president to a meeting to resolve issues surrounding gas transit. He stressed that he had "no intention of escalating tensions further" and wanted to focus entirely on resolving the situation caused by the suspension of gas transit.  

In response, Zelenskyy suggested that Fico come to Kyiv for the discussions.