Slovak Prime Minister Fico announced his intention to block Ukraine's membership in NATO
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that at an upcoming meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Denis Shmygal he will announce that he will block Ukraine’s membership in NATO. The politician’s words were aired on the RTVS television channel. The meeting between Fico and Shmygal is scheduled to take place on January 24 in the Ukrainian city of Uzhgorod.
The European official assured that he would use the right of veto and block the republic’s entry into the alliance.
I'll tell him [Шмыгалю]that I will veto [на вступление Украины в НАТО] and I will block it, because this is precisely the foundation for the third world war, and nothing more
The Prime Minister of Slovakia also commented on Ukraine’s desire to join the European Union. “We respect that, but they must comply with the conditions,” he said.
The Prime Minister of Slovakia decided to personally inform Shmygal about the refusal to supply weapons
Fico previously said that he decided to personally inform Kyiv about the refusal to supply weapons to the republic. This will also happen as part of a meeting with the Ukrainian side in Uzhgorod.
I will meet with Prime Minister Shmygal next week in Uzhgorod and I will say that we are providing only humanitarian assistance and will not send any weapons, since weapons will not solve the problem that currently reigns in Ukraine
During a press conference with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, he expressed the opinion that Kyiv could have agreed on a ceasefire twice, but the European Union (EU) chose the wrong policy.
Fico also discussed the Ukrainian conflict with the delegation of the US Congress as part of the congressmen’s visit to the republic. In his opinion, it is necessary to find a peaceful solution at the negotiating table as soon as possible. After this, according to the politician, the republic will have the opportunity for stable development for further accession to the EU.
The Slovak Parliament allowed arms supplies to Ukraine
Despite Fico’s words about supplying only humanitarian aid to Kyiv, the Slovak parliament supported an amendment to the country’s legislation and allowed the country’s Ministry of Defense to approve the export and supply of weapons, opening the way for public and private arms companies to provide military assistance to Ukraine.
This decision was commented on by the Minister of Defense of Slovakia under the previous government, Jaroslav Nagy.
The defense oligarchs behind [ныне правящей в Словакии партией] Smer benefit greatly from the opportunity to sell their products in Ukraine, and it has always been clear that they intend to continue supplying
According to the former head of the military department, the measures of the Prime Minister and the leader of the Smer party to ban the export of arms to Ukraine pursued only populist goals to increase the party’s electorate before the elections. Now the issue of replenishing Slovakia’s budget is more pressing than Fico’s election promises and statements, Nagy pointed out.
Germany doubted Ukraine's ability to join NATO
At the end of December, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and External Economic Relations of Hungary, Peter Szijjártó, said that Budapest’s position on the conflict in Ukraine remains unchanged. Earlier, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Ukraine’s accession to NATO risks dragging the entire alliance into the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. He clarified that Budapest is against this.
In turn, former German Ambassador to the United States and Great Britain Wolfgang Ischinger doubted that Ukraine would soon receive a place in the North Atlantic Alliance. According to him, there will definitely be dissatisfied people among the alliance member countries. “Even if most of us here agree that it's a good idea to bring Ukraine into NATO, I'm afraid there will be one, two, three of the 30-plus NATO members who will say, 'Oh, no, no, maybe not yet,” he said.
Ischinger added that he does not have an “optimistic scenario” for Ukraine to join NATO.
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