Prime Minister Fico said that at a meeting of 20 Western leaders in Paris on Monday, the atmosphere was bellicose and not a word was spoken about peace. He said Slovakia would never send soldiers to Ukraine.
Officials from other countries said they didn’t understand what Fico was talking about. “I have not heard of plans by any NATO or EU country to send its soldiers to Ukraine,“ said the Czech Defence Minister Jana Cernochova to news agency TASR.
In Bratislava, the Prime Minister was cheered by his coalition party leaders, Peter Pellegrini and Andrej Danko.
He was criticized by the President, who called his words ‘unreasonable’; and presidential candidate Ivan Korcok, who called Fico’s remarks “conspiracies and attacks on allies.“ He said Fico's statements about Ukraine are causing enormous damage to Slovakia.
Opposition parties accused Fico of trying to draw attention away from his bill to change the Penal Code and other domestic controversies. Michal Simecka, of the Progerssive Slovakia party, said that if Fico is so keen on peace, he should present a peace plan himself. If he doesn't have such a plan, it would have been better if he hadn't gone to such a meeting. (TASR)
