According to the New York Times, the US does not rule out that NATO's eastern wing in Europe, including Slovakia, could train Ukrainian insurgents in the event of a military conflict with Russia. Slovakia rejects this information and considers it speculation. According to lawyer Lukas Marecek, this theoretical possibility is not at all connected with the proposed defence agreement with the US.
The text from the Times article where Slovakia is mentioned goes as follows: “Administration officials interviewed this week said that plans to help Ukrainian insurgents could include providing training in nearby countries that are part of NATO’s eastern flank: Poland, Romania and Slovakia, which could enable insurgents to slip in and out of Ukraine.”
The Slovak defence ministry denies the reports. "There has never been any discussion with the Slovak Republic about any such possibility, which allegedly comes from an 'unspecified source' in the US administration, either at the bilateral or multilateral level. Therefore, the information is not based on reality," said the ministry spokesperson Martina Koval Kakascikova.
The proposed text of the Defence Cooperation Agreement with the US allows only US soldiers to be trained in Slovakia.
"The training of Ukrainian insurgents or other persons is not the subject of this agreement. They would not be able to train here on the basis of this agreement unless the Slovak Republic agrees," says lawyer Marecek.
Slovakia was mentioned in the article in the New York Times on 14 January. It was written by Pulitzer Prize laureate Helen Cooper.
Source: RTVS
