PM Eduard Heger (source: TASR)
NATO troops should arrive in Slovakia with technology worth about a billion euros, PM Eduard Heger (OLaNO) said on the public-service radio on March 5.
Under normal circumstances, it would take Slovakia years to procure this technology, Heger said.
The prime minister confirmed the plans that the government announced earlier: NATO will set up an enhanced forward presence unit in Slovakia, with about 1,200 troops from Germany, the Netherlands, Czechia, Poland, and Slovenia. NATO has so far had enhanced forward presence in the Baltic states, which the alliance decided on in July 2016. Two years later, Slovakia sent 150 troops to Latvia within this project.
Slovakia has started planning the arrival of allied troops following the invasion of Ukraine ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The German and Dutch soldiers are to arrive with the Patriot anti-missile system, while the Czech soldiers are to help Slovakia with cyber security.
If the US provides its Sentinel air and missile defence radar system, American troops would be part of the NATO presence in the country.
Heger also spoke about the possibility of a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which the Ukrainian government has been calling for. The Slovak prime minister said that "everything is on the table", but stressed that the no-fly zone is one step before the last.
"Because we know the NATO countries would have to get directly involved in the conflict," Heger said on the Slovak Radio. He did admit more economic sanctions against Russia might be coming, including a halt of energy supplies from Russia. Slovakia has alternative energy supplies prepared in the event the European leaders agree to take this step, the prime minister said.
The exact date of the arrival of the allies is not clear for now. It will depend on the agreements within NATO.
