The European Union’s fragile consensus on Russia is under strain. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico warned that Bratislava will veto the EU’s proposed 20th package of sanctions against Russia and block any fast-tracking of Ukraine’s EU accession bid unless a bitter energy dispute is resolved.
The row dates to late January, when the Druzhba pipeline — which carried Russian crude oil to Slovakia and Hungary — went offline. Ukraine has claimed the pipeline was damaged in Russian strikes, which Moscow has denied. Both Slovakia and Hungary have accused Ukraine of failing to address the disruption, and Fico is now leveraging his veto power to force Brussels to act.