Slovakia to stop emergency power supplies to Ukraine over oil dispute, PM says

WARSAW, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said his country's power grid operator would refuse any Ukrainian requests for emergency electricity supplies from Monday until oil flows resume via the Druzhba pipeline, escalating a dispute over the crude.

The announcement came hours after European ministers in Brussels tried and failed to persuade Slovakia and its neighbour Hungary to back off threats to punish Ukraine for the delays in restarting the flows.

Shipments of Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary have been cut off since January 27, when Ukraine says a Russian drone strike hit pipeline equipment in Western Ukraine.

Ukraine says it is fixing the damage on the pipeline, which still carries Russian oil over Ukrainian territory to Europe, as fast as it can.

Slovakia and Hungary - both NATO members who have the EU's only two refineries that still rely on oil via Druzhba - say Ukraine is to blame for the prolonged outage, in one of the angriest disputes yet between Ukraine and its two neighbours.

"From today, if the Ukrainian side turns to Slovakia with a request for assistance in stabilizing the Ukrainian energy network, it will not receive such assistance," Fico said in a statement.

Fico said the measure would be cancelled after the resumption of oil transit to Slovakia.

"This is the first reciprocal step that the Slovak government is authorized to take without violating any international rules and obligations," Fico said.

"If the Ukrainian side continues to harm Slovakia's interests in the supply of strategic raw materials, the Slovak government will also reconsider its previous constructive stance on Ukraine's membership in the EU and prepare further measures."

Hungary and Slovakia have accounted for 68% of Ukraine's imported power this month, according to Kyiv-based consultancy ExPro. It was not immediately clear if emergency supplies were included in that figure.