What did Fico's diesel threat mean for Kyiv and Bratislava?
An analysis of the Lukoil transit dispute and a separate missile warning from Moscow, as reported by 2 August 2024.
What was at stake for Ukraine and its neighbours on 2 August 2024? Two reports from the preceding days set the backdrop.
On 31 July 2024, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico threatened to suspend Slovakia's diesel exports to Ukraine if the Ukrainian government continued to halt pipeline oil transport from the Russian company Lukoil. Slovakia said the halt was causing a national energy crisis. The threat tied a bilateral trade flow, diesel supplied to Ukraine, directly to a transit question over Russian oil.
The dispute was framed by Bratislava as one of energy security, and it placed Kyiv in a position where a decision about transit could affect fuel supplies coming from a neighbour.
Separately, on 28 July 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to position long-range missiles that could strike throughout Europe. He was responding to the announcement by the United States of plans to set up long-range missiles in Germany beginning in 2026.
The two reports were distinct, but both showed European energy and security questions bearing on Ukraine's position in the final days of July 2024.
