Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico held one-on-one talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin late Sunday evening as part of a bid to secure continued access to cheap Russian fossil fuels. Fico's decision to travel to Russia for trade talks will prove controversial among his fellow EU leaders, and defies the bloc's public commitments to end its reliance on Moscow for gas imports. The leftist-populist Slovak politician arrived in the country for what Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov called a "working visit," posed for pictures and shook hands with Putin.