Aug 9 (Reuters) - Russian oil flows through Slovakia have been halted by Ukraine's Ukrtransnafta after a payment for transit made by Russia's Transneft was returned to the company, Slovak pipeline operator Transpetrol said on Tuesday.

"At the moment transit of oil by the Druzhba pipeline through the territory of Slovakia is halted," the company, which operates the Slovak section of the pipeline which continues west to the Czech Republic, said in a emailed response to Reuters questions. (Reporting by Jan Lopatka in Prague; editing by David Evans)