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.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said that he has offered his country as a meeting place for possible talks on ending the war in Ukraine. "If anyone turns to us and is interested in organizing peace talks in Slovakia about the conflict between Ukraine and Russia,

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Slovakia that Russia's Gazprom would find alternative ways to deliver contracted gas to Slovakia after the end of transit through Ukraine, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Friday.

BRATISLAVA - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced Wednesday that he will travel to Brussels on Thursday to meet with the European Commissioner for Energy about the gas transit issue and "wake him up from his sweet sleep".

Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico said he wasn’t ruling out the resumption of gas through Ukraine after a deal between Kyiv and Moscow expired at the beginning of this year.

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,

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico railed on Thursday against Ukraine's decision to cut off the transit of Russian gas to the European Union, repeating his warnings of possible retaliation against Kiev.