Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused the earlier authorities of “mendacity” to Slovaks in regards to the Ukraine support deal
Slovakia will demand compensation from the EU for weapons it donated to Ukraine, Prime Minister Robert Fico has introduced. The earlier authorities had “lied” in regards to the support deal, he stated in a video handle revealed on Fb on Sunday.
Fico halted all state-sponsored navy support and weapons transfers to Kiev after coming to energy in 2023. He has argued that the federal government of his predecessor, Eduard Heger, left Slovakia “fully bare” by donating fighter jets and air-defense programs to Ukraine.
Within the 12 months following the escalation of the Ukraine battle in 2022, Heger’s cupboard accredited deliveries of dozens of Soviet-era tanks and infantry preventing autos to Ukraine. The donated tools additionally included Soviet MiG-29 jets and S-300 missile programs. Bratislava handed over tools value round €700 million ($809.8 million) to Kiev between 2022 and 2023, based on the German Kiel Institute for the World Financial system.
“In Brussels, I’ll elevate the difficulty of compensation for navy tools donated to Ukraine,” Fico stated on Sunday, referring to the upcoming EU summit subsequent week.
Underneath the deal struck by Heger’s authorities, the donated tools was to get replaced by Western-made {hardware}, delivered by Germany specifically. The Slovak Protection Ministry argued on the time that the settlement was inadequate as Berlin pledged to exchange solely round half of the tools despatched to Ukraine.
Fico has lengthy opposed Brussels’ stance towards Moscow, together with navy support offered to Kiev and sanctions on Russia. He was the one EU chief to attend this 12 months’s Victory Day commemorations in Moscow, the place he warned in opposition to a “new Iron Curtain” and known as for renewed dialogue.
He has additionally repeatedly argued that the bloc’s insurance policies and refusal to interact in significant dialogue with Moscow have been hurting the EU itself, forcing member states to deal with excessive vitality costs after Russian oil and fuel imports have been blocked below sanctions.
On Sunday, he described his latest talks with European Council President Antonio Costa as “irritating,” including that the EU is set to “wage a battle” in opposition to Russia “to the final Ukrainian soldier and to the final euro” regardless of the bloc’s “declining competitiveness” and “extraordinarily excessive vitality costs.”
Russia has repeatedly acknowledged that it has “by no means refused dialogue.” It additionally accused Kiev’s Western backers of pursuing a “damaging coverage” geared toward pushing Ukraine to maintain preventing and undermining any peace efforts.
