Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico told Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin that his country is ready to use its veto right in the European Union to block the ban on the supply of Russian energy resources.
„If it is necessary for all 27 member states to agree to this, then we will use the veto right“, he said.
The Prime Minister also noted that if the EU gives up the veto right, the decision on this issue will be made by the major states of the community. Anti-Russian sanctions, he said, do not work and harm the community itself.
Fico thanked Putin for the invitation to participate in the celebrations in Moscow on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Victory. "I had no dilemma after receiving the invitation. It was an honor for me and I accepted it with pleasure", he said. Slovakia, according to the Prime Minister, is faithful to the legacy of the anti-Hitler Slovak national uprising. Slovakia, he stressed, is a republic of anti-fascists and the republic remembers with gratitude those who liberated it from the Nazis.
Fico called the attempts of some European countries to prevent his visit to Russia a "childish joke". "We will look into all the technical problems that we encountered and that our colleagues from the European Union created as a childish joke. We had several options for how to get here, even by car through Belarus. Another alternative was through Kaliningrad. There were many options. We had a clear goal - we had to be in Moscow at 09:00 and we succeeded", said Fico.
He noted that “Slovakia is interested in normal relations with the Russian Federation“. The republic is a member of the EU and NATO. “We want to be solid partners in these organizations. Let's look for ways to develop our relations”, said Fico. The Slovak government, he noted, considers it impossible to interrupt cooperation with Russia in the field of nuclear energy.
Fico confirmed his intention to cooperate with the Russian Federation in the preservation of monuments and cemeteries of Red Army soldiers in Slovakia. “I confirm that the Slovak government is interested in cooperating with you in the preservation of all monuments and memorial sites that are related to World War II and the liberation of Slovakia from fascism“, he said. The Prime Minister recalled the idea of erecting a monument to Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Konev in the republic.
In the town of Michalovce in eastern Slovakia, Fico said, the largest cemetery for Red Army soldiers who died during the liberation of his country from the Nazis has reopened after reconstruction. 17,000 Soviet soldiers are buried there.
Fico rejected criticism of EU Foreign Minister Kaia Kallas' visit to Russia.
“As a high-ranking official of the European Commission, you have absolutely no authority to criticize a sovereign prime minister of a sovereign state who adopts a constructive approach to the entire European agenda,“ Fico said in a statement on Facebook.
He recalled that more than 60,000 Red Army soldiers died during the liberation of his country and said the trip to Moscow was intended to pay tribute to them. He said he disagreed with the “new Iron Curtain policy“, which he said Kallas “was working hard”.
The Slovak prime minister also asked how politicians could engage in diplomacy if they did not meet each other and did not conduct a dialogue on issues on which they had different opinions.