Russia and Slovakia are resuming the work of the intergovernmental commission for economic, scientific and technical cooperation. The first meeting after a five-year break will be held on October 26 in Moscow, the press service of the Russian government told TASS, BTA reports.
The last meeting of the commission took place in November 2021 in Bratislava. The upcoming, 22nd meeting will be co-chaired by Russian Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov and Slovak Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Juraj Blanar.
According to the Russian government, the participants will discuss key issues of bilateral cooperation in the fields of trade and economy, energy, culture and humanitarian relations.
The resumption of the work of the commission was agreed in 2025 by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico. In August this year, Falkov and Blanar discussed organizational issues surrounding the preparation of the meeting.
Earlier, Blanar said that Slovakia is interested in restoring communication channels with Moscow, including by resuming the commission's activities. Among the specific issues that Bratislava wants to discuss are gas supplies, relations with “Gazprom“ and the long-term contract of the Slovak state-owned company “Slovak Gas Industry“ (SPP) with the Russian energy giant.
Despite Slovakia's objections, the European Union has decided to ban imports of Russian gas from 2027. SPP has a long-term contract with “Gazprom“, the termination of which could expose the country to serious financial sanctions.