While on a four-day visit to China, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a series of meetings with world leaders.

At his talks with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, Putin said that Moscow had endured Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s energy infrastructure for a long time. He emphasized that Russia tolerated these attacks, particularly during the winter months, but had now begun to respond in a more serious way.

He added that in response to Russian strikes, Kiev had attempted counterattacks that also affected the interests of other countries.

In this context, Putin referred to Ukrainian attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline, which delivers Russian crude to Hungary and Slovakia.