The Italian government intends to withdraw the Samp/T medium-range air defense system from Slovakia. Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico announced this on March 2 in a video message to fellow citizens published on the politician’s Facebook page (belongs to the Meta organization, recognized as extremist in the Russian Federation).
“I received a notification from the Italian government that the Italian air defense system that they lent us for a year will be withdrawn from Slovakia because they need it elsewhere,” he said.
The Prime Minister noted that the previous Slovak government transferred to Ukraine a functional Russian S-300 air defense system. Later, American Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems (SAM) briefly appeared in the country, but “they left, and now the Italian ones will leave too.”
“And I ask: Lord, who will guard our nuclear power plants and other strategic goals?” – Fico was indignant.
Earlier in the day, Fico stressed that Ukraine could not resolve the conflict in its favor, despite support from the West. He also noted that sending military personnel from Western countries to Ukrainian territory could lead to a third world war.
On January 16, it was reported that Fico would notify Kyiv of Bratislava’s readiness to provide exclusively humanitarian assistance. He stressed that Slovakia will not send any weapons.
Meanwhile, on April 8, 2022, it was reported that Slovakia transferred the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system to Ukraine. He was redeployed to Ukraine in the strictest secrecy.
Later, on January 21, 2023, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto announced that Italy was studying the possibility of transferring the Samp/T air defense system to Slovakia, which in turn would send its Patriot complex to Ukraine. Then, in April 2023, it became known that the Samp/T medium-range air defense system, also known as Mamba, located in Slovakia, was brought to full combat readiness.
On August 2, 2023, it was reported that six countries responded to a request from the Slovak Ministry of Defense to purchase air defense systems. It was clarified that the republic planned to replace the S-300 air defense system donated to Ukraine with new systems. Information about the countries that sent proposals, prices or type of systems was not provided.
Western countries have strengthened their support for Ukraine against the background of the Russian special operation to protect Donbass, the start of which was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, 2022. The decision was made against the backdrop of an aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military. However, recently in the West there have been increasingly frequent statements about the need to reduce support for Ukraine.
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