Robert Fico stated Kyiv would not receive “a single round” of ammunition, Reuters reported.
We are a peaceful country. We will not send a single round to Ukraine.
These words were uttered by former Prime Minister Robert Fico last week in the western Slovakian town of Banovce nad Bebravou where a rally was held ahead of the 30 September elections.
Bratislava has previously supplied arms and offered Kyiv strong political support within the European Union and NATO.
They will have to sit down anyway and find an agreement. Russia will never leave Crimea, never leave the territories that it controls.
If Fico fulfils his promise, it could become a radical change for Slovakia, which until now has been a staunch ally of Ukraine in its war against Russia.
However, the victory of the favourite in the elections is not guaranteed. No single party is capable of securing a majority, and forming a coalition government could prove difficult.
Western diplomats and Kyiv officials claimed Slovakia’s actions could undermine EU and NATO policy.
Fico surprised the EU with the criticism of sanctions imposed on Russia. He has called for rapprochement with Moscow when the war is over and has also promised to veto Ukraine’s NATO membership if the possibility ever arises.
His party leads the polls by a narrow margin in a country where voters are weary of the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, high inflation and a surge in illegal migrants.
Sociologists say conflicting information on the internet has contributed to a split among voters and increased scepticism about support for Ukraine.
A 68-year-old pensioner Eleonora Tanacova, one of the voters opposed to supporting Kyiv, reacted to Fico’s speech last Thursday as follows:
We should not support them [Ukraine] with weapons because evil only breeds more evil. This war will never end if we keep supporting them.
