BRATISLAVA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Saturday called on the European Union (EU) to resume dialogue with Russia and lift sanctions on Russian energy raw materials, after holding a phone call with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, local media STVR reported.
"The EU, and especially the EC (the European Commission), should immediately resume dialogue with Russia and ensure such a political and legal environment that individual member states and the EU as a whole replenish the missing gas and oil reserves and enable the supply of these strategic raw materials from all possible sources and directions, including Russia," Fico said in a post on social media.
He urged the "senseless sanctions" banning gas and oil imports from Russia to be lifted, and called for "decisive steps" to resume the operation of the Druzhba pipeline.
According to Fico, the phone call with Orban confirmed that the huge energy crisis cannot be tackled only at the national level. Fico said the governments of Slovakia and Hungary are protecting national economies and their citizens from the "ideological blindness and incompetence" of the EC.
Hungary and Slovakia have recently faced disruptions in oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline, which transports Russian crude oil to Central Europe via Ukraine. The situation has heightened tensions between the two countries and Ukraine, while raising concerns about the potential impact on regional energy supplies. ■