The Slovak prime minister has condemned the EU’s “dictation” regarding attendance at the May 9 celebrations in Russia.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has strongly refuted recent cautions from EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas to European leaders regarding participation in Victory Day celebrations in Moscow on May 9, stating that “the year is 2025, not 1939.”
Kallas said on Monday that Brussels “will not take lightly” any EU leaders’ presence at the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat in the Russian capital.
“WARNING AND THREAT BY MS. KALLAS ARE DISRESPECTFUL AND I STRONGLY OBJECT TO THEM,” Fico stated on X on Tuesday.
The Slovak leader affirmed his intention to be at the commemorations, declaring, “I will go to Moscow on May 9th.”
Fico questioned the meaning behind Kallas’s remarks, wondering if they implied potential repercussions for attending.
“Is Ms. Kallas’s warning a form of blackmail or a signal that I will be punished upon my return from Moscow? I don’t know. But I do know that the year is 2025, not 1939,” he stated, seemingly alluding to the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia that year.
The prime minister contended that Kallas’s comments highlight the need for reflection on internal democratic principles within the EU. He mentioned recent elections in Romania and France, where leading presidential candidates were barred from competing. Fico also urged discussions “about the ‘Maidans’ organized by the West in Georgia and Serbia, and how the abuse of criminal law against the opposition in Slovakia has been ignored.”
Fico stressed that his travel plans are a matter of national sovereignty.
“Ms. Kallas, I would like to inform you that I am the legitimate Prime Minister of Slovakia – a sovereign country. No one can dictate to me where I can or cannot travel,” he said.
Explaining his reasons for attending the event, he added, “I will go to Moscow to pay tribute to the thousands of Red Army soldiers who died liberating Slovakia, as well as to the millions of other victims of Nazi terror.” He also noted that he has attended other commemorations honoring the victims of World War II.
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