The contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukraine is a little over a week away from expiration. However, two EU countries - Slovakia and Hungary - do not want to lose critical supplies and are counting the losses if the route is lost. Contents ...

Russian president Vladimir Putin hosted Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico who marked a rare visit to the Kremlin by an EU leader since Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.The visit comes as Russian natural gas still flows to some European countries,

Russia said on Monday that the situation with European countries that buy its gas through a transit deal via Ukraine is very complicated and needs more attention, after talks between President Vladimir Putin and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Seoul, Washington and Kyiv have said there are around 12,000 North Korean troops in Russia. The JCS said at least 1,100 of them had been killed or wounded, in line with last week’s briefing by South Korea’s spy agency which reported some 100 deaths with another 1,000 wounded in the Kursk region.

The EU has a non-binding goal of stopping all Russian energy imports by 2027. “The end of Ukraine transit could speed up this decoupling, and would also imply a loss of $6.5 billion annually for Russia, unless it can redirect these flows to other pipelines or LNG terminals,” Bruegel said.

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Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has for the second time in as many months made comments against Ukraine joining NATO. He did, however, acknowledge that Russia's invasion had violated international law.

Slovakia aims to have a deal by the end of the year that will allow natural gas to continue to flow from Russia through Ukraine, Denisa Sakova, the nation’s deputy prime minister and economy minister said.

By bne Berlin bureau Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico made a surprise trip to Moscow on December 22 to hold rare face to face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he seeks to secure gas deliveries ahead of the end of the Ukrainiangas transit deal next week,

North Korea is preparing to send to Russia more troops and weapons, including kamikaze drones, to support Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine, South Korea’s military has claimed.North Korea has already provided 240mm multiple rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled howitzers,

Zelensky called Fico's Russia visit a "big security issue" for Slovakia and Europe, asking: "Why is this leader so dependent on Moscow? What is being paid to him, and what does he pay with?"