Slovakia may veto new European Union sanctions against Russia if it believes they could undermine the peace process in Ukraine, Prime Minister Robert Fico told the parliamentary committee on European affairs before leaving for today's European Council meeting in Brussels, Slovak news agency TASR reported.
Fico confirmed the government's position, which refuses to send military aid to Ukraine. He said Bratislava supports Ukraine's accession to the EU if it meets the regular conditions for this. Fico believes that “big countries“ would like to delay Ukraine's accession to the union.
The prime minister believes it is very dangerous for the image of the Union if it remains the only country that wants the fight to continue. “In practice, no one wants to fight anymore. "Only EU countries constantly raise the issue of weapons," he added. According to him, the EU should insist on peace in Ukraine, which is why Slovakia will also try to include this message in the final documents after today's meeting.
Fico said that the opposition should not accuse him of expressing different opinions to the domestic and European audience, describing the position of the Slovak government as rational and pragmatic. "The Slovak government cannot stop anyone from providing weapons to Ukraine on a bilateral basis," he said, emphasizing that the Slovak government would never again donate weapons to Ukraine. "We are ready to cooperate only on a commercial basis," he said, adding that Slovakia is ready to continue providing humanitarian aid.
According to the prime minister, "there is a great appetite" to include topics that threaten Slovakia in the sanctions packages - for example, the nuclear program. "If we consider an attempt at additional sanctions as one that could undermine the peace process, then we are ready to veto it - there is nothing wrong with that," Fico said.
According to the Slovak prime minister, no peacekeeping missions should enter Ukraine until peace is achieved. He does not support the idea of Slovak soldiers participating in such missions, which should be composed only of countries that are not neighboring Ukraine and Russia. "Slovakia is not interested in such a mission," he said.