Slovakia has till now been a staunch supporter of Kyiv since Russia invaded in February final yr, donating arms and opening its borders for refugees fleeing the struggle.
Slovakia’s new Prime Minister, Robert Fico, introduced on Thursday that he would cease delivering arms to Ukraine, limiting help for his neighbour to “humanitarian and civilian aid”.
“We see aid to Ukraine solely as humanitarian and civilian aid, and we will no longer supply Ukraine with arms”, Fico declared, the day after his appointment as head of a coalition authorities that features a pro-Russian far-right get together.
“The war in Ukraine is not ours, we have nothing to do with it”, he added.
In his view, “an immediate halt to military operations is the best solution for Ukraine. The EU should move from being an arms supplier to a peacemaker”.
The Kremlin instantly reacted to this announcement, enjoying down its significance.
“Slovakia’s share of arms deliveries [to Kyiv] was indeed not that great, and that is why this will hardly affect the whole process”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov instructed the press, earlier than as soon as once more accusing the United States of fuelling the battle by serving to Ukraine.
During his statements to MEPs, Fico additionally introduced that he wouldn’t help new sanctions in opposition to Russia “until we have analysed their impact on Slovakia”.
“If such sanctions are going to harm us, as is the case with most sanctions, I see no reason to support them”, he insisted.