Slovak and Ukrainian Prime Ministers Robert Fico and Denys Shmyhal shake hands in Uzhhorod, western Ukraine, on January 24, 2024. (source: Ukrainian government's website)
Prime Minister Robert Fico has said that his Wednesday trip to western Ukraine was a ‘success’ and praised Ukrainian generosity, then he went on to blame the Slovak media for trying to thwart a meeting with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal by publishing ‘nonsense’ and ‘fake news’.
“The nervousness was caused by the Slovak media, which as usual know how to perfectly separate the wheat from the chaff and then publish only the chaff,” he said in a post-meeting video.
Before Fico’s trip, the Slovak media wrote about what he was going to say to Shmyhal in Uzhhorod. The information was based on the Slovak public broadcaster’s interview with Fico from January 20. During the interview, for example, Fico questioned Ukraine’s sovereignty. As a result, a Ukrainian MP called for the meeting to be cancelled.
In the end, Fico and Shmyhal met outside Uzhhorod, in the spa town of Derenivska Kupil, without the media.
“Despite certain political misunderstanding, we are shaping a policy of ‘new pragmatism’ in relations with many European countries,” said the Ukrainian PM after the meeting. “I am confident that Ukraine and Slovakia will continue fruitful cooperation for the sake of the security and prosperity of our countries.”
In the video, Fico repeated that he had told his Ukrainian counterpart that he didn’t believe in a military solution to the war in Ukraine, that Ukraine was under US political influence, and that he would block any of Ukraine’s effort to join NATO.
“Ukraine should be independent, free, prosperous and democratic,” Fico said.
The Slovak premier also promised to support any peace plan for the conflict in Ukraine, including Zelensky’s. “However, I’m convinced that it’s unrealistic,” Fico argued. He added that the realness of each plan will soon be assessed at a summit in Switzerland.
