At the meeting with the Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, Slovak President Ivan Gašparovič emphasised that a “pragmatic dialogue” was necessary for Slovak-Russian relations. Even though Slovakia is a member state of the European Union, Russia still remains our strategic partner. “The European Union needs Russia and Russia needs the European President,” the Slovak head of state said. He added he wished that an agreement on the strategic partnership between the EU and the Russian Federation be adopted.

The two state officials also discussed bilateral economic and trade cooperation during their meeting. “The Russian Federation is our most important trade partner outside the EU,” the Slovak President noted. He further added he would be glad if the network of energy shippers to Slovakia as well as the routes of the Druzhba and the Bratstvo (Brotherhood) gas pipelines were preserved.

“The Russian Federation is our strategic energy supplier, accounting for 99% of oil and 98% of gas supplies,” Ivan Gašparovič said. The talks between the Slovak President and his Russian guest also involved the completion of blocks 3 and 4 of the Mochovce nuclear power plant in Slovakia. Sergey Naryshkin informed Ivan Gašparovič about the Russia-Ukraine negotiations on oil and gas supplies to Europe. He did not rule out that the Russian Federation might seek new alternative routes to transport its energy carriers to Central and Western Europe.