All negotiating options have been exhausted for now, and continuing our blocking position would now endanger our interests," Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said.

Slovakia will stop blocking the approval of the 18th package of European Union sanctions against Russia on Friday, Prime Minister Robert Fico said. Fico said on Thursday Slovakia had achieved as much as it could at this point,

Slovakia will lift its blockade of the EU’s 18th sanctions package against Russia as early as tomorrow, July 18. However, immediately after that, the "second phase of the fight with the European Commission over Russian gas" will begin,