The European Union has begun making overtures to Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico ahead of a high-stakes summit on Thursday to push him toward lifting the veto he has imposed on a new round of sanctions against Russia.
Fico has no objection to the package itself, which targets Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG), oil infrastructure, the "shadow fleet" and cryptocurrency platforms, as well as the movements of Russian diplomats across the bloc, but has raised a series of unrelated grievances about energy prices, the car-making sector and competitiveness.
