US ambassador calls on Smer to not align with Russian president

Smer leader Robert Fico supports Ukraine’s EU membership, he said in a meeting with ambassadors on Monday.

Smer leader Robert Fico shakes hands with US Ambassador to Slovakia Guatam Rana during a meeting on April 24, 2023.Smer leader Robert Fico shakes hands with US Ambassador to Slovakia Guatam Rana during a meeting on April 24, 2023. (Source: Facebook/Smer)

Former prime minister Robert Fico has said that his party Smer supports Ukraine’s accession to the European Union, but the party opposes Ukraine becoming a NATO member.

“We support Ukraine’s membership in the EU, but only if the conditions are met,” Fico said at his party’s press conference on April 25. It should not be a political gesture, he stressed.

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“If Ukraine has the ambition of becoming an EU member state, we’re ready to help,” the Smer leader with pro-Russian views added.

Fico, leader of the most popular party in recent public opinion polls and in the run-up to the September parliamentary elections, stated the aforementioned a day after his second meeting with a group of ambassadors to Slovakia. The meeting was attended by UK and US ambassadors, the ambassadors of several EU member states, and Smer members MP Juraj Blanár and MEP Monika Beňová.

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The first meeting, after which several ambassadors criticised Smer for the spreading disinformation about the war in Ukraine, NATO and the USA, took place at the start of February.

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