BRATISLAVA, April 16 (Xinhua) - Slovakia has adopted special measures to strengthen the protection of the border with Ukraine, Interior Minister Robert Kalinak confirmed after the Cabinet session on Wednesday.

Kalinak further said that he can't specify what these measures are on the 98 kilometers long eastern border. "We have increased our readiness and activity levels. We adopted emergency measures. If you see increased activity of our troops in eastern Slovakia, it's certainly related to these measures," said Kalinak.

According to Kalinak, Slovakia has already received the first four applications for asylum from Ukraine. He added that Slovakia is ready to be very open in these procedures.

Concerning the supply of gas to Slovakia, the Economy Minister Thomas Malatinsky said that "of course, any conflict threatens the energy security of Slovakia. Slovakia, however, has no reason to be worried so far, as the gas supply is going in a standard way."

In early April, Russian Gazprom introduced two price hikes for gas supplied to Ukraine. In response to this, Kiev launched emergency talks with EU neighbors and has asked for help with gas supplies. The trilateral talks between Slovakia, Ukraine and the European Commission have started, but haven't finished yet. Endi

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