Embarrassment: Poland Denies Slovak Parliamentary Delegation Plane Access to Its Airspace en Route to Russia
Polish authorities did not allow a plane carrying a Slovak parliamentary delegation to fly through its airspace to Russia, TASR reports. It is noted that the plane flew through the airspace of the Czech Republic and Germany to Russia.
‘I don't understand Poland's position, but I take it as a reality,’ said Andriy Danko, deputy speaker of the Slovak parliament.
The Slovak delegation plans to meet with members of the State Duma and some members of the government in Russia. According to the head of the delegation, the agenda of the talks should include, among other things, the issue of natural gas supplies to Slovakia and the war in Ukraine: the delegation wants to know whether Russian Gazprom will be able to supply gas to Slovakia despite the sanctions and the suspension of transit through Ukraine.
In turn, Poland said that it did not prohibit the plane with the Slovak parliamentary delegation on board from flying to Russia.
‘We did not refuse the Slovak side to fly. They simply sent us incomplete documents, without a note, and then, during the consideration of the issue, when they were asked to supplement the information, they reported a change in the route,’ said Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Pawel Wronski.
As a reminder, gas transit to Europe through Ukraine stopped on 1 January 2025 in accordance with the transit agreement. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine would not continue transiting Russian gas. According to him, these are ‘billions in blood’.
Prior to that, Slovakia's pro-Russian Prime Minister Fico threatened to cut off electricity supplies to Ukraine from 1 January 2025 if Kyiv did not continue the transit of Russian natural gas through its territory, which then goes to Slovakia. Fico also listed the measures that Slovakia could take against Ukraine if the transit is stopped. In particular, Bratislava could cut humanitarian aid to Ukrainian refugees and block EU decisions to support Ukraine.