Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will not visit Kyiv to discuss the halting of Russian gas transit through Ukraine, Tibor Gaspar, deputy-speaker of the Slovak Parliament told Russian state-controlled news agency TASS on Jan.

Russia's gas flows to Europe ended at the start of the year following the expiration of a transit agreement between Kyiv and Moscow. Ukraine refused to extend the deal, seeking to stop energy revenue going to Moscow to fund its nearly three-year invasion.

Fico met Putin in Moscow on Dec. 22 to discuss gas and the war in Ukraine after Ukraine decided not to allow Russian gas flows through Ukraine from Jan. 1. Fico has threatened to take retaliatory measures against Kyiv as Slovakia wanted to continue receiving Russian gas through Ukraine to keep costs down and keep earning transit country revenue from onward gas shipments to Europe.

The Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, will not travel to Kyiv for talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, RBC-Ukraine reports, citing Tibor Gaspar, Deputy Speaker of the Slovak Parliament, in his comment to the Russian state agency TASS.