Slovakia has asked the European Commission not to include it in its plan to phase out Russian gas supplies.

Blanar: Slovakia was very clear in calling for its exclusion from the EU gas plan

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Slovakia has appealed to the European Commission to exclude it from the plan to halt imports of Russian gas and hydrocarbons. Slovakia's Foreign Minister, Juraj Blanar, made the corresponding statement on September 24.

The diplomat explained that his country proposed making an exception and continuing raw material purchases for a certain transition period. These comments were made following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the UN General Assembly.

Blanar emphasized that if the country were to completely abandon Russian gas, it would suffer losses in excess of 10 billion euros and would also face legal action from Gazprom.

Talks between Lavrov and Blanar took place on September 24. The Slovak foreign minister concluded that Russia had successfully adapted to EU sanctions restrictions. He also emphasized Slovakia's lack of a viable alternative to Russian fossil fuels.

Earlier, it was announced that the European Union plans to introduce a package of trade restrictions that will significantly reduce Russian fuel supplies to Hungary and Slovakia via the Druzhba pipeline. The key goal of the proposed measures is to overcome the reluctance of certain European countries to impose restrictive measures against Moscow.