Russian President Vladimir Putin has held talks in the Kremlin with Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to Moscow by an EU leader since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Vladimir Putin said Slovakia's prime minister offered on his recent visit to Moscow to host potential talks between Russia and Ukraine. Robert Fico made the trip as a halt to Russian gas deliveries via Ukraine beckons.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding talks with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico in Moscow, state TV channel Rossiya 24 reported.

Robert Fico meets with the Russian president amid concerns about his country's gas supplies, and at a time when Slovakia is withdrawing support for Ukraine's war effort.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his evening address on Monday, 23 December, has once again criticised Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who on 22 December held talks with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin regarding gas supplies.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will travel to Moscow next week to hold talks on gas supplies with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Dec. 20.

Prime Minister Robert Fico, one of a small handful of pro-Russian leaders currently in power in Europe, travelled to Moscow on Sunday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in the Kremlin on Sunday with Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico (shown here in Brussels in February 2024), in a rare visit to Moscow by an EU leader since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP)

Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico arrived in Russia on a “working visit” and met with Putin one-on-one on Sunday evening.

Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin - becoming only the third Western leader to meet the Russian president since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine three years ago.