One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies in NATO has signed a pledge of “mutual trust and respect” with Ukraine.
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, who took office in October after vowing to “not to send another bullet to Ukraine,” signed a joint statement affirming “the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders” during a Wednesday meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The statement “expressed support for the peace formula” of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and “emphasized the importance” of Ukraine and Slovakia “developing military-technical cooperation,” according to social media posts from Shmyhal.
Shmyhal said that Fico had agreed that Slovakia would not block Ukraine from purchasing Slovak weapons and equipment after hearing about “the atrocities of the Russians.”
Newsweek reached out for comment to Slovakian government authorities, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Putin’s office via email on Wednesday.
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“During our meeting, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico emphasized that he fully supports the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” said Shmyhal. “We recorded this in our joint statement.”
“I told him about the atrocities of the Russians, about the bombing of the civilian population, about the kidnapping of Ukrainian children, about nuclear blackmail and the nuclear threat that Russia poses to the whole world,” he added.
Ukraine’s entry into the European Union (EU) was also seemingly backed by Fico on Wednesday, with Shmyhal saying the Slovak leader expressed “his full support for Ukraine’s European integration aspirations” and the EU’s Ukraine facility program, which is set to give Kyiv aid worth €50 billion or $54.5 billion.
The outcome of Fico’s meeting with Shmyhal represents a stunning turnaround from only a day earlier when the Slovakian leader claimed during a press conference that there was no “war in Kyiv” hours after Russia bombarded the Ukrainian capital with missiles.
Fico insisted that Kyiv was experiencing “absolutely normal life” and said the impact of Russia’s invasion was “localized” after being asked by a reporter why he was not visiting the capital. Wednesday’s meeting instead took place in Uzhhorod, a western Ukraine city located on the Slovakian border.
Tensions between Russia and NATO member states have recently been mounting with the continuing expansion of the alliance. Putin and his allies cited concerns about NATO expansion as one of the reasons for launching Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
Fico has been one of only a few NATO leaders to express sympathy towards Russia and criticized the strategic alliance in an opinion article published by the Slovak newspaper Pravda.sk earlier this month.
In the article, Fico argued that his fellow NATO members had supported a “failed strategy” concerning the Russia-Ukraine war, condemning a “black-and-white vision” that paints Russia as a “mortal enemy.”
Regardless of Fico’s remarks, Slovakia has officially backed Ukraine and endorsed Sweden’s application for NATO membership, a development that would turn the Baltic Sea into a so-called “NATO lake.”
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a Putin ally viewed by many as one of the last obstacles to Sweden’s accession, told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg over the phone on Wednesday that Hungary supports Sweden’s membership.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.