“WE ARE NOT A BUFFER ZONE FOR BRUSSELS”
While on the campaign trail for the European election, Mr Fico’s governing SMER party framed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as being the result of Western provocation.
Their coalition partners in government, the far-right Slovak National Party, are running the slogan “We are not a buffer zone for Brussels”.
At a campaign rally in a venue partially funded by the EU, SMER’s deputy leader Lubos Blaha criticised EU policy in Ukraine and warned of an EU superstate which could order Slovak troops to war.
“I don’t want to have a future where some in Brussels will decide that my son will be a soldier in the war against Russia,” he told CNA.
“I don’t feel any hatred against Russia. The Russians, they liberated us in the Second World War from fascism, and … we can’t forget this. That’s why I think that the most pragmatic way to finish this war is to sit on the table and to have some peace settlement.”
Mr Blaha added: “It’s not that we are pro-Russia. We don’t agree with the political or military action of Russia against Ukraine, and we cannot agree.”
Nevertheless, experts said that the SMER party’s talk of peace is not rooted in the reality of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ms Oleksandra Hordon, project coordinator at global think tank Centre for Global Europe, noted that the party’s talk of peace is on Russian terms – completely opposite of what Ukrainians want and are fighting for.
“If Russia ended its war today, there would be no war, and if Ukraine ended the war today, there would be no more Ukraine,” she stressed.
“So I think we should listen to the Ukrainian leadership, to the Ukrainian people, consider the common values that Ukrainians are currently fighting for and continue the support for Ukraine,” she added.
Despite the dramatic shift in the new Slovak’s government’s rhetoric, most Slovaks – around 70 per cent – still think their country’s fortunes should be aligned with its Western allies.
They will now have their say on whether to lean back on the country’s historic Russian ties, or continue to forge its future with the West.
The European parliamentary election polls close on Sunday.
