Slovakia will stop blocking the approval of the 18th package of European Union sanctions against Russia on Friday, Prime Minister Robert Fico said.

EU ambassadors are expected to approve the 18th package of sanctions against Russia on Friday. Slovakia had been blocking the package over concerns regarding a separate EU proposal phasing out gas imports from Russia.

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.