Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is weakening Europe by helping Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin finance its war against Ukraine.
Fico met with Putin on Sunday as part of a bid to secure continued access to cheap Russian fossil fuels, with a major deal that allows imports via Ukraine due to expire at the end of the year.
“[Fico’s] key goal is to deal with Russia, and this is what benefits him. This is indeed a big security issue — both for Slovakia and the entire Europe. Why is this leader so dependent on Moscow? What is being paid to him, and what does he pay with?” Zelenskyy wrote on Monday.
“Moscow provides significant discounts to Fico, but Slovakia pays for them. Such discounts are not free—payments to Russia are made through sovereignty or murky schemes.”
Zelenskyy said that details of this financing were revealed during the European leaders’ meeting in Brussels on Thursday Dec. 19.
“Leaders observed that Mr. Fico does not want to participate in the common European work on energy independence or seek replacement for Russian gas, but rather wants to assist Russia in pushing American gas and energy resources of other partners away from Europe, implying that he wants to help Putin earn money to fund the war and weaken Europe,” said Zelenskyy.
After the meeting, Fico said Putin “confirmed Russia’s readiness to continue supplying gas to Slovakia,” although that will ultimately depend on Kyiv’s decision.
Hundreds of people gathered in front of Slovakia’s government office in Bratislava on Monday afternoon to protest Fico’s trip to Moscow.
“Through Fico, Putin is strengthening Russia’s waning influence, propaganda and hybrid war against Slovakia and its true allies,” the organizer of the protest, called “Enough of Russia,” told Czech media Novinky.
“It is worth noting that after their meeting in Moscow, Fico and Putin did not issue joint statements or respond to media questions,” Zelenskyy said in his statement, accusing the two leaders of not disclosing what they discussed during the meeting because “they are afraid of the public’s reaction.”
Other European leaders also criticized Fico for his meeting with Putin on Sunday, calling the move “a betrayal.”
“How cheap is your love?” wrote Lithuania’s President Gitanas Nausėda on Monday. “There are those who come to Russia with love and feel gassed to meet a war criminal. This is not Lithuania’s way. We choose energy independence and real market prices – with no political strings attached!”
Slovakia’s opposition leader Michal Šimečka said in an interview with Brussels Playbook on Sunday night that he considers the visit “to be undermining Slovak interests and a betrayal of our partners.”
“Instead of negotiating with Ukraine and the European Commission, he’s created a political conflict, which is the worst of all possible outcomes,” he added.
Czechia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jan Lipavský condemned Fico’s decision to visit Moscow on Sunday, saying that his government had “secured independence from Russian energy supplies so we wouldn’t have to crawl in front of a mass murderer.”
“Robert Fico just kissed the ring of a mass murderer in the Kremlin,” said Czech EPP MEP Danuše Nerudová. “It is a betrayal and another immoral step that will serve Russian interests. Robert Fico is a security risk for us,” she added.
A European Commission spokesperson declined to comment over Fico’s trip to Moscow, but said that the EU “is prepared” for the expected stop of Russian gas flow via Ukraine on Jan. 1 and that its impact will be limited.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost three years ago, only two other EU heads of government have visited Putin — Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Both trips were widely condemned, with the EU’s executive arm publicly rebuking Orbán’s self-declared peace mission and insisting he had no mandate to negotiate.
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