Slovakia confirmed on Friday December 27 that it was ready to host peace talks on Ukraine. “If anyone wants to hold peace talks in Slovakia, we will be ready and welcoming“, declared on Facebook Prime Minister Robert Fico. For its part, the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated that this dialogue should take place “with the participation of Russia», unlike the summit in June in Switzerland.
On Thursday, the Russian president affirmed that Slovakia, whose “neutral position“, proposed itself as a sort of “platform» for possible negotiations.
«We consider the Russian President's statement as a positive signal to end this war, bloodshed and destruction as quickly as possible.», wrote on Facebook Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar.
Nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico, one of the very few European leaders who remained close to the Kremlin, met Vladimir Putin in Moscow on December 22, provoking the anger of kyiv. According to Juraj Blanar, in October Bratislava informed its “Ukrainian partners» of his availability for peace negotiations.
“Retaliation against Ukraine”
Although Slovakia is a member of the European Union and NATO, it has moved closer to Russia, espousing the Hungarian position, since Robert Fico's return to power in the fall of 2023. The latter stopped all military aid to Ukraine and accuses Kiev of endangering its country's supply of Russian gas, which it wishes to continue to buy and see transit through its territory.
Ukraine announced last summer that it would not renew the contract binding it to Russia until the end of the year to transport Russian gas to Europe. No solution has yet been found. “By January 1, we will assess the possibilities of retaliatory measures against Ukraine», affirmed the Slovak Prime Minister.
«If necessary, we will interrupt the electricity supply it needs when it has outages on its electricity network“, he added, refusing to be a “subordinate» from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with whom his relations are strained. Bratislava claims to have secured its gas supply for 2025 whatever happens.
Par Le360 (with AFP)
12/28/2024 at 7:29 a.m.
