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.

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.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has expanded his threats against Ukraine over Kyiv's suspension of Russian natural gas transit. Source: Teraz.sk, citing Fico's words in Brussels after talks with European Commission officials on 9 January,

Slovakia is weighing retaliation against Ukraine including withholding aid if a solution is not found to Kyiv's decision to shut off Russian gas, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Thursday after talks with EU Energy Commissioner Dan Jorgensen.

Austria has insisted it is well prepared for the stoppage, but Slovakia has threatened to cut electricity supplies to neighboring Ukraine.

Thousands of Slovaks have taken to the streets as protests against the pro-Russia policies of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico spread from Slovakia's capital to towns and cities across the country

Slovakia has alternative gas supplies but Fico, who has ended military aid to Ukraine and sought warmer relations with Moscow, says Slovakia will lose its own transit revenues and pay additional transit fees to bring in non-Russian gas. He has also said European gas and power prices would rise as a result of Ukraine's actions.

Protesters gathered in Bratislava and other Slovak cities on Friday to rally against the government's drive to seek closer ties with Russia despite its invasion of Ukraine.

Thousands of people protested in cities across Slovakia on Friday evening against the Ukraine policy of Slovakian left-wing populist Prime Minister Robert Fico. The demonstrators accused Fico of following a pro-Russian course and of "betraying" Western allies and neighbouring Ukraine.