Chair of Parliament expresses objections to Sec. Pompeo's visit and travels to Russia

One day after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Bratislava, Slovak Parliamentary Chair Andrej Danko (Slovak National Party/SNS) went to the Russian Federation. "I won't give up on Russia", stated Danko, in response to the question as to whether his visit to Russia meant drawing Slovakia towards the East, as the opposition fears. According to him, a visit to the Russian Federation is not a deviation from Slovakia's political direction; moreover he expressed some reservations on the way Mike Pompeo's visit to Bratislava was carried out. Andrej Danko thinks he and the Defence Minister Peter Gajdoš (also a SNS member) have done "a bit more" for Slovak-US relations than "all those who were shaking hands with Mr. Pompeo". In Moscow, Danko met with the Chairman of Russia's State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, whom he would also like to welcome in Bratislava. This is, however, not possible due to the sanctions the EU has imposed on Volodin for his role in Russia's annexation of Crimea.