Slovak PM calls for EU dialogue with Russia

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.



Fico 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.