EU state’s PM calls for ‘normal dialogue’ with Russia
Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has urged the West to resume normal dialogue with Russia and spoken out against the sanctions imposed on Moscow, arguing that they are not working.
Speaking to Brazil’s Folha de Sao Paulo news outlet, Fico admitted that he has become a “black sheep” in the EU over his position on the Ukraine conflict. In May, he was shot multiple times by a man who later admitted he was motivated by Fico’s refusal to send arms to Ukraine.
In the interview, Fico stressed that “what is happening now is not normal” and suggested that once the Ukraine conflict comes to an end, everything will go back to “business as usual” with Moscow and that “everyone will go to Russia and will want to buy and sell.”
“Forget about morality or anything else when it comes to international politics,” he said.
The prime minister stated that while the Ukraine conflict never should have started, he understands the reasons for which it did. Nevertheless, he added, it is necessary to be “at least a little realistic” and to “admit that Russia will never leave Crimea, Donetsk and Lugansk.”
Fico stressed that once the conflict is eventually resolved at the negotiating table, he would not like to see a new iron curtain erected between Russia and Europe.
The Slovakian leader also noted that the West has decided to take advantage of the conflict in order to weaken Russia, by imposing sanctions on Moscow and pouring billions in dollars and euros, as well as weapons and humanitarian aid, into Ukraine.
“What is the result? The Russians are gaining more and more territory, the sanctions are not working, and Ukraine is no longer strong enough for possible negotiations,” Fico claimed, adding that it is suffering the most because “it allowed itself to be drawn into this adventure that cannot end well for the country.” He also noted that, although he supports Kiev’s eventual membership of the EU, he would never back its admission into NATO as long as he is prime minister.
During the interview, Fico also predicted that Kiev will likely be “betrayed” by the West and possibly end up losing a third of its territories without being invited into NATO, receiving security guarantees only in the form of a foreign troop presence in the country.
