Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has argued that the West’s current approach toward Moscow will ultimately fail.
Fico contends that the West is intentionally prolonging the conflict in Ukraine with the goal of weakening Russia.
In an interview with Slovak broadcaster STVR on Sunday, Fico expressed concern about the EU’s increasing involvement in the ongoing conflict between Moscow and Kiev, arguing that a battlefield solution is not viable.
“There is a military conflict in a neighboring country where Slavs are killing each other, and Europe is significantly supporting this killing, which I just don’t understand,” Fico said. He added that the fighting “continues only because it is being strongly supported by the West.”
“The sooner it ends, the better it will be,” he stressed, arguing that the West’s efforts to use the conflict to defeat Moscow would fail.
“Everyone thinks that through Ukraine we will bring the Russians to their knees, but this Russophobia does not work. It turns out that this problem cannot be solved militarily,” Fico stated.
Fico, a long-standing critic of Western military aid to Kiev, vowed to prevent Ukraine from ever joining NATO. He argued that such a move could set the stage for a potential World War III.
After winning the parliamentary election last year, Fico’s Smer-SD party has ceased the delivery of weapons to Ukraine and has repeatedly called for a diplomatic resolution of the conflict. He pledged to restore trade and political ties with Moscow once the fighting ends, arguing that “the EU needs Russia, and Russia needs the EU.”
Moscow has condemned Western aid to Kiev, asserting that no amount of foreign assistance would stop its troops in Ukraine.