"Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of playing 'cat and mouse' with the European Union (EU) to interfere in the elections in Hungary, speaking following the European Council summit in Brussels on Friday. “When I watched President Zelensky's speech yesterday, because he was not directly present at the meeting and dealt with it through video, I got a feeling that if anyone is running the EU here, it's Mr. Zelensky. Whatever he asks for, he gets. Whatever he refuses, he refuses without any pushback from the European Union,” he noted. “I understand that Zelensky is not in a good position, he is in a war. But it is not possible to have such a degree of ignoring and disrespect towards the European Union, as he shows, and expect our only duty to be to accommodate him,” Fico continued. Stressing the severe consequences of the continuous blockage of the Druzhba pipeline to the energy security of Central Europe, the Slovak leader denounced Zelensky for refusing to let any inspection commission to the allegedly damaged site. "It is completely ridiculous that President Zelensky talks about another six weeks. He is specifically talking about the elections in Hungary. It needs to be stated that Zelensky is exploiting this issue to influence the elections in Hungary, because, in connection with what is happening in Iran, he expects the situation to be very bad, possibly leading to a severe shock," he went on. "Not only for the industry, but also for the economy and especially for the citizens.” Fico lashed out at European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, calling the body 'helpless' and questioning what possible 'solutions' it could call on to avert the brewing energy crisis. He accused the EC chief of assuring Kiev ‘don't worry about the pipeline, because 90 billion you will get anyway’. He also pointed to the US decision to lift sanctions on Russian oil following the price shock affecting global markets as a result of the conflict in the Middle East. He also pointed out that Slovakia is already subject to an 'exemption until 2027' for Russian energy purchases, adding that while Slovakia has been 'buying small volumes of oil and gas for domestic consumption', "LNG has been flowing into France, into Spain, into Germany, into Belgium, into other countries from the Russian Federation." “They'd rather watch us possibly face an oil shortage, maybe pay 2.50 for gasoline, for diesel, three euros, but due to an obsession, they simply won't allow the Druzhba to open because it's a matter of the geopolitical relations we have here,” he said. Hungary and Slovakia say oil from Russia via Ukraine is being stopped for political reasons, while Kiev insists a Russian strike damaged the pipeline."