Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has said that his country will not allow Ukraine to join NATO as long as he is in power. Admitting Kiev into the US-led military alliance would trigger a new world war, he warned in an interview with STVR on Sunday.
“As long as I am the prime minister of the Slovak Republic, I will lead the legislators, whom I have control over as a party chairman, to never agree to Ukraine’s membership in NATO,” Fico said. “Ukraine’s entry into NATO would serve as a good basis for a third world war.”
Fico, a longtime critic of Western military and financial aid to Ukraine, has insisted that the conflict must be resolved through diplomatic means. He has repeatedly warned against further escalation with Moscow.
The accession of new countries must be approved by all of NATO’s 32 members, with national parliaments voting in favor of or against new candidates.
Kiev formally applied to join NATO in September 2022, citing the conflict with Russia. While many Western states publicly back Ukraine’s aspirations, they have refused to provide a concrete roadmap or timetable for accession. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky acknowledged in July that “we will not be in NATO until the war is over in Ukraine.”
Russia views NATO’s expansion eastward as a security threat and has cited Ukraine’s cooperation with the bloc as one of the main reasons behind the conflict.
President Vladimir Putin warned last month that using Western-supplied longer-range weapons for strikes deep inside Russia would be tantamount to “direct involvement” of NATO in the conflict.