PRIME Minister Robert Fico in a written statement on Saturday said that Slovakia, as a neighbouring country of Ukraine, is concerned about the latest escalation of tension involving Crimea.
"We call on all sides for maximum restraint, and for political and a diplomatic solution to the crisis," said Fico in the statement.
At the same, Slovakia's Security Council was put on emergency footing.
The recent developments in Ukraine will be discussed at an extraordinary meeting of EU's foreign affairs ministers on Monday, TASR was told by Foreign and European Affairs Ministry spokesman Boris Gandel. Slovakia's Miroslav Lajčák thus has had to cancel a planned trip to Geneva on Sunday, March 2.
The Federation Council, which is the upper house of the Russian Parliament, earlier in the day overwhelmingly approved the request of President Vladimir Putin to use military force on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, as Putin said, in order to protect Russian citizens and military personnel. This move has caused massive protests throughout Ukraine, with interim Ukrainian president Oleksandr Turchynov describing it as an act of direct aggression against the sovereignty of his country.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Michaela Terenzani from press reports.
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information
presented in its Flash News postings.