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 accepted guarantees from the European Union’s executive arm to limit the fallout from a planned cutoff of Russian gas supplies and, in exchange, will lift its veto on the bloc’s 18th sanctions package against Moscow.

Slovakia is seeking an exemption that would allow it to fulfill its contract with Gazprom until it expires in 2034