Poland has denied reports that it blocked a flight taken by a Slovakian delegation to Moscow from crossing its airspace.
Speaking on January 12, a spokesman for Poland’s foreign affairs ministry Paweł Wroński insisted no request from Slovak authorities was rejected, despite initial reports earlier.
Instead, he claimed that Polish authorities had merely contacted Bratislava asking for more information.
“We did not refuse the Slovak side the flight, they just sent us incomplete documents,” Polsat News reported Wroński as saying.
“When they were asked to complete them – they informed us about the change of route.”
The claim contradicted those made by Slovak authorities, as well as other Polish politicians within Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) alliance.
On January 12, as the diverted flight landed in Moscow, Polish MEP Michael Szczerba appeared to applaud the apparent decision to close off Polish airspace to the aircraft.
“Let the Slovak and Hungarian Russian agents look for another airspace for business and political contacts with criminals from Moscow,” he said.
Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico says he secured guaranteed gas supply from Russia just before Ukraine halted the transit of gas from the country at the start of 2025. https://t.co/LZnNOpZojh
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 9, 2025
Relations between Poland and Slovakia have soured in recent weeks over issues tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Slovakia has threatened to pull its support from Kyiv due to its decision to end the flow of Russian gas through its territory destined for the Slovak capital Bratislava.
Warsaw has denounced such threats, with pro-Ukraine politicians arguing that Ukraine had signalled such a move was coming for months, allowing Slovakia enough time to secure gas elsewhere.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has seemed to be looking for a different solution, opting to send a delegation to Russia recently in the hope that the two countries might find an alternate method of transporting the gas.
Andrej Danko, the chairman of Fico’s SNS party and leader of the delegation, took to social media to mock those criticising the trip, arguing that serious governments needed to be able to talk to others.
“I am glad that the opposition ‘builders’ of rainbow Europe … have spoken out,” he said in a post on social media from Moscow’s famous Bolshoi Theatre.
“Sometimes it is necessary to go where their donors do not like. Just live in your bubble. Here in Russia, it lives on culture.”
Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced possible retaliatory measures against Ukraine after Kyiv halted the flow of Russian gas to his country. https://t.co/xG8TzdK8gJ
— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) January 3, 2025
