Fitzo says Zelensky tried to "buy" him
Fitzo is a pro-Russian politician and often echoes the Kremlin's narrative.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo said that Zelensky allegedly offered him money from Russian assets. This is reported by Politico.
According to him, the Ukrainian leader "behind closed doors" allegedly offered him 500 million euros from Russian assets in exchange for voting in favour of Ukraine's NATO membership.
Fitzo complained to reporters that when Slovakia started talking about continuing to transit Russian gas, Zelensky criticised the neighbouring country, saying: "It's a bit embarrassing to talk about money because we are losing people."
The Slovak prime minister then told reporters that Ukraine was damaging the EU member's economy and that Zelensky's proposals to resolve the situation, which he presented behind closed doors, were "absurd".
According to Fitzo, after he told Zielenski that Slovakia could lose about 500 million euros of gas transit fees per year, the Ukrainian leader "asked me if I would then vote for NATO membership if he gave me 500 million euros of Russian assets, and of course I said 'never'".
We shall remind you that back in the summer Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine was not going to extend the gas transit agreement with Russia, which expires on 1 January, but was discussing the transit of Azerbaijani gas to the EU.
This caused outrage in Slovakia. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fitzo personally travelled to Kiev to persuade the Ukrainian government to extend the transit of Russian gas. However, he received a refusal. After that, Fitzo wrote in his blog that a serious conflict awaits Ukraine if Kiev cuts off the transit of gas from Russia, which is intended for Bratislava.
We would like to add that Slovak Prime Minister Fitzo will go to Putin's office on Monday amid the stoppage of gas transit.