Former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, whose party is leading in polls ahead of the upcoming elections, has promised to veto “senseless” anti-Russian sanctions that harm EU members if he wins, Bloomberg reported. In addition, he said he would stop supplying weapons to Kiev, according to the article.
Former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who may return to power later this year, said he will stop supplying arms to Ukraine and suspend some plans to impose additional sanctions against Russia, Bloomberg reported.
“I don’t want to supply Ukraine with lethal weapons just for the sake of a good image among Western countries,” Fico, 58, said at his party headquarters in Bratislava. – We have the right to have our own opinion.”
Fico, whose party is leading in polls in Slovakia ahead of September’s elections, also promised to forcibly divert arms shipments from other countries to Kiev.
In addition, he said he would veto “senseless” anti-Russian sanctions that hurt EU member states.
This week, Fico met with U.S., British and EU ambassadors to outline his foreign policy goals. He told them that if he returned to power, Slovakia would not support Ukraine’s application for NATO membership because this “greatest nonsense” would cause a global conflict.
As Bloomberg notes, such a Bratislava policy would mark a major shift in Slovakia’s support for its eastern neighbor, Ukraine, and add a new challenge to Western allies, who are already facing opposition from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The latter, a longtime ally of Vladimir Putin, blames anti-Russian sanctions for the destruction of his country’s economy, according to the article.
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