Robert Fico, the prime minister of Slovakia and a supporter of Moscow, said NATO and EU nations are “considering sending troops to Ukraine.”
Robert Fico, the leader of Slovakia, who has long opposed military supplies to Ukraine and adopted a stance viewed by some as pro-Russian, said today that he was informed of the concept through notes prior to a summit of European leaders in Paris.
He stated that such a move would probably result in an escalation, even if he did not know what the troops would be doing in the war-torn nation.
After Slovakia’s security council met, Fico gave a television briefing. “I will limit myself to saying that these theses (in preparation for the Paris meeting) imply a number of NATO and EU member states are considering whether they will send their troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis,” Fico said.
He added that Slovakia, a NATO and EU member, would not be sending soldiers to Ukraine, saying, “I cannot say for what purpose and what they should be doing there.”
However, representatives of NATO, such as US President Joe Biden, have emphasized that the Western military alliance wishes to avoid going to war with Russia directly since that may spark a world war.
How much longer will Ukraine be armed by the world? Zelensky’s European backing is beginning to wane, Slovakia elects a pro-Moscow party, and US discontent increases. Meanwhile, proposals are made for the UK to spend an additional £2.3 billion.
On February 14, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg declared, “Neither NATO nor NATO allies are parties to the conflict.”
NATO did not immediately respond to Fico’s statements. When asked about the remarks, Petr Fiala, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, responded, “Nobody has to worry about that; the Czech Republic is certainly not preparing to send any soldiers to Ukraine.”
Fico stated that further details could not be made public and that he believed there was a chance for the crisis in Ukraine to escalate significantly.
Approximately twenty European politicians, including Fico, are assembling in Paris today to refute the Kremlin narrative that Russia would inevitably win the war, which is now in its third year, and to convey to Putin the resolve of the European Union on Ukraine, according to France.
A working conference has been called at short notice by French President Emmanuel Macron for European leaders to gather at the Elysee Palace. According to his advisors, there has been an increase in Russian aggressiveness in recent weeks.
Fico claimed that setting up the conference demonstrated the failure of the West’s approach to Ukraine. Despite getting “shivers down his spine” from the discussion material, he declared he would participate constructively.
This occurs in the wake of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s Monday declaration that ‘no compromise’ with his Hungarian and Slovak colleagues was possible if they refused to publicly back Ukraine against Russia’s incursion.
In a mock attack, soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian infantry unit of the United Kingdom storm an enemy position on February 26, 2024, in Drawsko Pomorskie, Poland, during the NATO ‘Brilliant Jump’ military exercises.
On February 26, French President Emmanuel Macron gives a speech to kick off a conference with government representatives and leaders from Europe in support of Ukraine at the Elysee Presidential Palace in Paris. supplied by The Daily Mail.
Tusk will attend a meeting of the so-called Visegrad group on Tuesday in Prague with the premiers of the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, Petr Fiala, Viktor Orban, and Robert Fico.
As a result of Orban and Fico’s criticism of military support for Ukraine, the four Central European countries that make up NATO and the EU have become further divided. For months, Orban obstructed a 50 billion euro EU aid plan, and Fico has questioned Ukraine’s sovereignty and advocated for peace with Russia in lieu of sending military assistance to the war-torn country.
“You have to support Ukraine in its defense against the Russian invasion by definition and by the very nature of this membership,” Tusk told reporters. “If you are a member of NATO and the EU.”He told reporters, “There is no compromise to be made on this. If someone fails to understand this, and I will say this openly in Prague tomorrow, they place themselves… outside our communities.”
When they met in Prague, Tusk promised to put this “in the eyes” of Orban. He also stated he was “stunned” by Fico’s recent remarks against Ukraine.”It won’t be a pleasant or simple encounter,” stated Tusk following his meeting in Warsaw with Justin Trudeau, his colleague from Canada. The conference will be a “test” for the Visegrad group, Tusk continued.
He stated he would answer “openly” if the four-country club had a purpose to continue when he got back home.Two years after the four nations’ forty years of communist rule under Soviet leadership came to an end, the Visegrad Group was established in 1991.
“It is a paradox that Budapest and Bratislava send out these ambiguous signals concerning (President Vladimir) Putin and Russia these days,” Tusk continued, considering the historical experience with the Moscow-led communist dictatorship.