Czech Prime Minister: Anti-Ukrainian Rhetoric and Slovak Government's Stance Reminiscent of Putin's Interests
The Cabinet of Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala has announced that it will no longer hold joint talks with the government of Robert Fico. The reason for this is the anti-Ukrainian rhetoric of the Slovak government.
The Czech-Slovak intergovernmental consultations were supposed to take place at the turn of April-May.
According to Prague, one of the reasons is the meeting between Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár (Smer) and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
In the current situation, Fiala said, it is necessary to make it clear that Slovakia, through statements by its representatives and some actions, deviates from the path taken by the European Union regarding Russian aggression to the interpretation of its causes and ways to resolve it.
"We will continue bilateral relations. No one should talk about a threat to Czech-Slovak ties just because the Czech government has decided not to continue something of a very high standard, such as joint government-to-government talks. Everything else will work. But we cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that we have a different view on a fundamental issue that concerns the security of Europe, the future security of the European architecture," Fiala said.
Czech Diplomat Jan Lipavsky also commented on Blanar's meeting with Lavrov. Hungarian Minister Peter Szijjarto also met with his Russian counterpart during a conference in Turkey.
"Our partners, literally on the other side of the globe and on the other side of the world, understand that the security of Europe affects the security of the whole world. That is why I am sorry that my colleagues in Slovakia do not see it that way," Lipavsky said.
Prime Minister Robert Fico reacted to the Fiala government's move. Among other things, he said on social media that his government would never jeopardise the deep Slovak-Czech relations.
According to him, the Czech Republic's decision will not affect "sovereign Slovak foreign policy".
"We note that the Czech government has decided to threaten them only because it is interested in supporting the war in Ukraine, while the Slovak government is openly talking about peace," Fico said.
Earlier, on the occasion of the second anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Slovak Prime Minister said that "the war began in 2014 with the antics of Ukrainian neo-Nazis". At the same time, he claimed that during the conflict, "Slavs are being killed, and the West is watching".