Thousands of protesters in the Slovak capital held banners and chanted slogans on Friday accusing Prime Minister Robert Fico of dragging the country towards Russia after he met President Vladimir Putin last month amid a gas dispute with Ukraine.

Fico said Putin guaranteed that Russia would meets its obligations, although capacity in the TurkStream pipeline and connecting route taking Russian gas through Turkey to Europe was limited. "President Putin guaranteed that they will honour their commitments," Fico said.

Vladimir Putin promised Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico that the Russian Gazprom would find alternative ways to supply gas to Slovakia after the completion of transit through Ukraine. Details about the ways of gas deliveries are still unknown,

Fico asserts that Bratislava could "stop any humanitarian aid to Ukraine, decide on significant reduction or complete cancellation of benefits for Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia, or stop electricity supplies in emergency situations.

Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Wednesday he had secured Slovakia's gas supply during a visit to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow last month, just before Ukraine halted the transit of gas from Russia at the start of 2025.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has expanded his threats against Ukraine over Kyiv's suspension of Russian natural gas transit. Source: Teraz.sk, citing Fico's words in Brussels after talks with European Commission officials on 9 January,

Fico said that Slovakia could halt its humanitarian aid to Ukraine, cut or cancel social benefits for Ukrainian refugees, and cease emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine. He also suggested using veto power over EU decisions as leverage against Kyiv.

The United Nations Refugee Agency said there were just over 130,000 Ukrainian refugees in Slovakia as of December 8.

The future of gas transit through Ukraine is at a turning point. If a last-minute deal isn’t struck by Wednesday, billions of cubic meters in gas flows could come to a halt.

However, Fico says it will cost Slovakia 1 billion euros ($1 billion) a year in higher prices for the gas it uses and 500 million euros in onward transit fees. He has threatened to cut emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine as Russia attacks its power grid,