BRATISLAVA, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Russia's President Vladimir Putin met Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico in the Kremlin on Sunday, a rare visit by a European Union leader to Moscow as a contract allowing for Russian gas to transit through Ukraine nears expiry.

Slovakia is dependent on gas passing through its neighbour Ukraine, and it has ramped up efforts to maintain those flows from 2025 while criticising Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for refusing to extend the contract expiring at the end of the year.

Fico's trip to Moscow was only the third by an EU government head since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Slovak opposition politicians called the visit a "disgrace".

Fico said on Facebook after the meeting that top EU officials were informed of his trip on Friday.

He said it came in response to talks last week with Zelenskiy, who, according to the Slovak leader, had expressed opposition to any gas transit through Ukraine to Slovakia.

"Russian President V. Putin confirmed the readiness of the (Russian Federation) to continue to supply gas to the West and Slovakia, which is practically impossible after Jan. 1, 2025 in view of the stance of the Ukrainian president," Fico said.

Fico came to power in 2023 and shifted Slovakia's foreign policy. He immediately stopped state military aid to Kyiv, has said the war with Russia does not have a military solution, and has criticised sanctions against Moscow.

His visit to the Kremlin follows Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, who visited in April 2022, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who went to Moscow last July. EU allies had criticised both of those visits.

Russian television showed Putin and Fico shaking hands at the start of their talks. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the meeting had been arranged a few days ago.

In the talks, Fico said he and Putin exchanged opinions on the military situation in Ukraine, chances of a peaceful end to the war and on Slovak-Russian relations "which I intend to standardise".

Photo from Reuters