Blanar: Slovakia and Russia Agree to Maintain Stable Oil Supplies

Moscow/Bratislava, 26 October (TASR) – Representatives of Slovakia and Russia held expert-level talks in Moscow on Monday on bilateral cooperation and its future development in line with Slovakia's commitments within the EU, the Foreign and European Affairs Ministry press department told TASR on the same day. The session of the Intergovernmental Commission for Economic and Scientific-technical Cooperation focused on six areas: energy, nuclear energy, agriculture, environmental protection, tourism, and sport and culture. Both sides agreed on the need to ensure stable supplies of Russian oil to Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline and also agreed that the commission's next session should take place in Slovakia in 2027. "National interests are always our priority, while taking into account our other commitments. The goal is clear, and this is also why we are resuming the intergovernmental commission with the Russian Federation in areas not subject to sanctions," said Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar, who led the Slovak delegation to the commission. Blanar and his Russian counterpart, Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov, agreed on the need to maintain pragmatic dialogue through meetings of the commission, which provide an opportunity for direct and open discussions between experts from both countries on specific areas of mutual interest. "If anyone thinks Slovakia is the only country with trade deals with the Russian Federation, I recommend paying less attention to nonsense spouted by the opposition and following official sources, instead," Blanar said in a statement issued by the ministry. He cited the participation of the German-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in this year's St Petersburg International Economic Forum. Its chair, Matthias Schepp, said that 1,600 German companies operate on the Russian market, generating turnover of around €20 billion last year, and confirmed the need to represent German interests there. Blanar also said that, according to Eurostat, EU member states have purchased energy commodities worth approximately €200 billion from Russia since 2022. He added that Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, who is responsible for energy, put the figure at as much as €320 billion. mf