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Slovakia will stop diesel supplies to Ukraine unless oil transit restored, PM says

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico stated on Monday his country would halt diesel supplies to Ukraine if Kyiv fails to bring back oil flows from Russian group Lukoil through its territory.

Slovakia and Hungary - 2 countries that have actually opposed western allies' military help to Ukraine as it fights Russia's. intrusion - have been stepping up pressure considering that Kyiv put Lukoil. on a sanctions list last month, stopping the company's oil from. travelling through to Slovak and Hungarian refineries.

If the transit of Russian crude through Ukraine is not. restored in a brief time, (Slovak refiner) Slovnaft will not. continue in products of diesel to Ukraine, Fico stated in a. Facebook video message.

Oil shipments through Ukraine from other Russian suppliers. than Lukoil have actually not been interrupted.

Slovak shipments account for a tenth of Ukraine's diesel. intake, Fico said.

He included that he proposed a technical service to. bring back the stopped oil flows to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys. Shmyhal on Friday. He did not provide any details on his proposition. however said it would need to include several countries.

I invite reports that appropriate trading firms are currently. thinking about how to execute this technical solution in the. quickest possible time, Fico stated.

The dispute has shown how much some EU nations still. depend upon Russian energy more than 2 years after the bloc. decided to stop oil imports from Moscow following its invasion. of Ukraine.

Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic have exemptions to. a ban on Russia pipeline oil imports to give them time to discover. alternatives.

(source: Reuters)