Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a recent visit to Moscow that his country was prepared to broker peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported Thursday.
“If it comes to that, why not?” Putin told reporters at a press conference following a meeting of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Leningrad. “Because Slovakia holds a neutral position from our point of view. For us it’s an acceptable alternative.”
Fico has emerged this year, alongside Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, as an advocate for Putin and for Russia within the European Union, vowing to block Ukraine from joining NATO and refusing to send “another bullet” of state military aid to Kyiv. Fico has also helped break Russia’s international isolation with his Dec. 22 visit to Putin and by promising to attend the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Moscow in May 2025.
The unannounced pre-Christmas meeting between Fico and Putin was reported at the time as an attempt by the Slovak leader to find a way around Kyiv’s refusal to extend Russian gas deliveries to Bratislava following the expiry of an existing contract at the end of 2024.
No mention was then made of brokering peace talks, although Fico later stated in a social media post that “during a long conversation with V. Putin we did exchange opinions on the military situation in Ukraine [and] on the possibilities of bringing the war to a peaceful end.”
Slovak opposition leader Michal Šimečka told local media that if Fico wants peace between Russia and Ukraine he should get Putin to end the war: “If Russia’s military ceases its attacks, they [Fico and Putin] are welcome to talk peace on Fico’s porch if they like.”
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, noted on X following the meeting between Fico and Putin that the two “did not issue joint statements or respond to media questions,” alleging it was because “they are afraid of the public’s reaction.”
“Why is this leader [Fico] so dependent on Moscow?” Zelenskyy asked. “What is being paid to him, and what does he pay with?”
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