Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has suspended official military assistance to Ukraine, criticized EU sanctions against Russia, rejected NATO membership for Kyiv, and met Vladimir Putin.
At the same time, Slovakia’s private arms companies are making a bundle by selling weapons to Ukraine.
In 2024, Slovakia’s arms exports grew to €1.15 billion. That’s about 1 percent of the country’s economy, double the scale of 2023 and 10 times the amount since before Russia launched its full-scale invasion against Ukraine in 2022.
But the booming arms business isn’t undermining Fico’s political pledge on aid to Ukraine, Deputy Defense Minister Igor Melicher told POLITICO.
“The Slovak government pledged to its citizens in its manifesto that we will not send a single bullet from our state warehouses to Ukraine, and we are keeping this promise,” Melicher said in a statement to POLITICO. Slovakia’s official help is made up of non-lethal aid and critical electricity supplies “necessary for the functioning of Ukraine as a state.”
However, the government makes no secret of the fact that it has no problem with private companies selling arms.
“We joined the European Union because of the values we share. We also respect the free market,” Melicher said. “Therefore, restricting defense industry companies would be quite hypocritical on our part.”
Slovak companies are producing 155 mm ammunition, Zuzana 2 self-propelled howitzers, detection systems and electronic warfare and communications technology, according to the Center for European Policy Analysis.
Last year, at the opening of an artillery ammunition plant, Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák said: “This is not support for war, but support for trade.”
“We said before and after the [2023 general] elections that we would not restrict defense companies because we need economic growth,” Kaliňák reiterated in March when asked about the export figures. “It’s great because it creates jobs.”
Melicher also said that “most of the military equipment produced in Slovakia is not sold to Ukraine, but to Western partners, who will then decide what to do with this material.”
The government’s effort to defend arms exports while sending little aid to Kyiv has come under fire from critics.
“This is a communication strategy heavy on pacifist posturing and opportunism,” said Lucia Yar, a member of the European Parliament’s Security and Defense Committee who represents the main opposition party, Progressive Slovakia.
Fico has been adamant about not sending any official arms supplies to Ukraine. “Should we take from pensioners now to buy tanks?” he asked in March when quizzed about the EU’s defense initiatives.
“For God’s sake, what kind of war is Europe preparing for? Why does Europe suddenly need to spend €800 billion on armaments?” Fico asked during a speech celebrating the 80th anniversary of Slovakia’s liberation from German occupation in April.
Slovakia’s government also bridles against the EU’s increasing involvement in financing an expansion of the arms industry — all while lining up for EU cash, including from the bloc’s new €150 billion Security Action for Europe loans-for-weapons scheme.
Yar added that Slovakia is also keen on securing European funds for defense projects because Fico understands that “there’s a serious amount of European money on the table.”
“He may not be interested in the collective defense agenda, but he recognizes that with the right messaging, particularly around dual-use infrastructure, he can access these defense-oriented EU funds to finance his domestic projects,” the lawmaker said.
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