Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen (left) speaks with Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár (centre) during an informal meeting of NATO foreign ministers at the Czernin Palace in Prague on May 31, 2024. (source: AP/TASR)
Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár (Smer), who will represent Slovakia at what is being dubbed a Ukraine peace summit at the Swiss resort of Bürgenstock this weekend, does not expect any breakthrough in bringing peace. Russia launched an all-out invasion of its neighbour in February 2022; the conflict has since led to hundreds of thousands of casualties and caused hundreds of billions of euros in damage to Ukrainian property and infrastructure.
“I expect that the origins and development of the conflict in Ukraine will be viewed realistically, as this is an important prerequisite for reaching a ceasefire and seeking a peaceful resolution,” the minister stated, adding that food safety, nuclear safety, humanitarian aid, and freedom of navigation are among the matters that will be raised at the summit.
These are all part of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s 10-point peace plan.
Blanár will substitute for Prime Minister Robert Fico at the meeting; the latter is still recovering after being shot in May. High-level delegates from dozens of countries, but not from Russia or China, are due to participate in the summit.
“We consider it essential to primarily negotiate and seek diplomatic solutions to resolve the conflict in Ukraine diplomatically,” Blanár added on Thursday.
On Wednesday, June 12, Blanár celebrated Russia Day at the Russian Embassy in Bratislava. In contrast to his other official engagements, he did not announce his visit; however, the Russian Embassy publicised the event and Blanár's presence at it.
Vacillating government policy
Slovakia has yo-yoed on Russia’s war in Ukraine since Smer won last year’s parliamentary elections and formed its fourth government.
While the coalition says that it supports any initiative that would lead to peace and purports to recognise Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, it has halted all direct military support from Slovakia to Ukraine, instead restricting help to humanitarian aid, efforts to demine Ukraine, and military aid based on commercial arms deals involving state-owned companies.
On June 12, the Slovak Electricity Transmission System (SEPS) also announced that it will continue to provide emergency assistance during emergency events when its Ukrainian counterpart, TSO Ukrenergo, is not be able to maintain electricity supplies on its own.
Blanár, encouraged by the prime minister, met with the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, in early March in Turkey. Coalition MPs held a secretly scheduled meeting with Russian Ambassador to Slovakia Igor Bratchikov in the Slovak parliament in May. Bratchikov has also appeared at several official events, including at the anniversaries of the liberation of Bratislava in April and of the end of the Second World War in Europe in May, both of which took place in Bratislava. Similar meetings have been held by Smer party representatives since Russia's invasion, both before and after the party returned to power in October 2023.
The Smer-led government, which is also opposed to Ukraine’s membership in NATO, but not in the EU, has reportedly never called on Russia to end its invasion and withdraw from Ukraine.
Future Slovak president Peter Pellegrini, who was part of the coalition until recently, met with Bratchikov in January. He has even invited him to his inauguration as president, which takes place tomorrow, June 15.
Earlier this week, the Defence Ministry questioned the previous government’s donation of Slovakia's Soviet-era jets to Ukraine, arguing that the ministry’s then leadership had no right to do it.
“By sending fighter jets worth more than €500 million to Ukraine, the outgoing government made a significant decision in foreign policy and thus violated the Constitution of the Slovak Republic,” said Deputy Defence Minister Igor Melicher.
In fact, the jets were obsolete, most were not airworthy and all of them had been grounded since 2022. Slovakia is due to receive 14 new US-made F-16 fighters in the coming months.
Only the beginning
As for the summit, former Slovak foreign minister Miroslav Wlachowský considers it important that Slovakia will take part in the meeting. But even he does not have high hopes.
“The absence of the country that caused the aggression [i.e Russia], as well as another significant permanent member of the UN Security Council, China, means that this conference will represent only one phase of the peace process,” he told the Sme daily.
According to Ukraine expert Alexander Duleba, Slovakia can provide its know-how when it comes to protecting nuclear power plants.
“Slovakia has good experience, and the Nuclear Regulatory Authority is well-respected,” he noted, calling the summit a diplomatic achievement by Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday said that Russia would cease its military actions and start peace negotiations if Ukraine were to give up its ambitions for NATO membership and withdraw entirely from four regions of Ukraine that are claimed by Moscow. Russia has failed to occupy fully any of the four regions and a Ukrainian withdrawal would leave millions more of its citizens under Russian control. Kyiv rejected any notion of a deal on such terms.
