Ukrainian Ambassador to Slovakia Myroslav Kastran commented on the column of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, in which he called the Westʼs strategy regarding the Russian-Ukrainian war a "failure" and declared his desire to normalize relations with Russia.
The Ukrainian ambassador shares Ficoʼs position that Russia has violated international law, but notes that this is too mild a wording to describe "all the horrors that Russia brought to Ukrainian soil on February 24, 2022."
Myroslav Kastran considers it false that Robert Fico explained the reason for Russiaʼs attack by Ukraineʼs creation of some special "security situation" for Russia or because of "Russiaʼs provocation" by Ukraineʼs intentions to join NATO.
"At one time, Slovakia, like the rest of the countries of Eastern Europe, joined NATO. But not in order to jointly threaten Russia, but on the contrary: in order to receive security guarantees from Russia itself in the Alliance," the diplomat noted.
And he added that the words "not everything is so clear" should not be used to hide obvious things that "we will continue to call by our names."
The ambassador of Ukraine summarized that Ukraine needs the help of its partners, in particular Slovakia, because it is also fighting for the security of the whole of Europe.
Who is Robert Fitzo?
At the end of October 2023 , Robert Fico from the pro-Russian party Smer became the new prime minister of Slovakia. After that, the country announced that it would not provide military aid to Ukraine. Already on November 8, the Slovak government did not approve the 14th package of military aid to Ukraine for €40.3 million from the previous government. Almost all important aid packages from the EU before the elections in Slovakia were blocked by Hungary. Now, Slovakia can also follow her path in matters concerning Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.