Split Over Ukraine Aid Prompts 'Unprecedented' Czech-Slovak Rupture
© AFP 2023 / MICHAL CIZEK
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Robert Fico rode to his fourth term as prime minister in Slovakia in 2023 on a wave of discontent over EU support for Ukraine in the NATO proxy conflict against Russia. Like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Fico has been against sending weapons to Kiev, and urged for maintaining good relations with Russia.
Waning desire to continue propping up the Kiev regime is increasingly becoming a deal breaker in relations between states, government, and politicians.
Disagreements over further support for Ukraine have caused an “unprecedented rupture” between the Czech and Slovak governments, The Washington Post has underscored.
While the two countries, which emerged after the bifurcation of Czechoslovakia, have maintained warm relations until now, the past month has witnessed a growing split between them, the publication pointed out.
The government in Prague, led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala, is fervidly pro-Kiev, while Slovakia’s PM Robert Fico has been adamantly against sending weapons to Ukraine, Kiev’s potential NATO membership, and sanctions on Russia.
There had never been "open rhetorical confrontation" between the two governments until NATO's proxy conflict against Russia in Ukraine, it was stressed.
Slovakia interested in good relations with Russia, Fico declared
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) January 27, 2024
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said in an interview that Slovakia should have normal relations with Russia and promised to take steps in this direction.
"As head of government, I want to say: yes, I will start… pic.twitter.com/XMnhFBHStA
Prague, which has been overly zealous in its eagerness to provide Ukraine with ammunition, opted for an unprecedented snub earlier in March. It suspended intergovernmental consultations with Bratislava in the wake of a meeting between the Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov.
Fiala noted at the time that, “it is impossible to conceal the fact that there are significant differences of opinion on some key foreign policy issues.”
Czech Republic's Prime Minister Petr Fiala (R) and his Slovakia's counterpart Robert Fico pose for photographers in Prague, Czech republic, on November 24, 2023
© AFP 2023 / MICHAL CIZEK
In response, Robert Fico openly addressed Fiala in a video posted on social media, where he warned Prague against putting Slovak-Czech relations "in danger.”
“We note that the Czech government has decided to jeopardize them because it has an interest in supporting the war in Ukraine, while the Slovak government talks about peace. Your decision will not affect our sovereign policy,” the Slovak prime minister said.
Robert Fico's Smer party-led government, elected in the September 2023 general election, reversed the country's stance on the Ukraine crisis in favor of stopping military supplies to Kiev. Fico, dubbed the "Slovak Orban" after his Hungarian counterpart, who also opposes confrontation with Russia, stressed that aiding the Kiev regime weakens the Slovak Armed Forces and only prolongs a conflict that Ukraine has no chance of winning.
Earlier in March, Robert Fico stressed that he was "not convinced of the sincerity of the West to achieve peace in Ukraine." He added in a social media post that "the Western strategy of using the war in Ukraine to weaken Russia economically, militarily and politically is not working.”
Fico was also sharply critical of recent comments by French President Emmanuel Macron suggesting the possibility of European troops being sent to Ukraine. The proposal was broadly rejected by leaders throughout the continent, including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Fico’s sovereign foreign policy, undeterred by pressure from the West, is similar to the stance adopted by Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Budapest has since the beginning of the Ukraine conflict been consistently calling for a ceasefire and peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev, and opposed sanctions on Russian energy. In March 2022, Hungary's parliament banned the delivery of weapons to Ukraine from the country's soil.
Earlier in the year, Viktor Orban said Hungary seeks to deepen economic cooperation with Russia in areas not affected by sanctions, since economic life will continue after the end of the conflict in Ukraine.
"There will be trade, there will be economics, and for us this will be an important relationship and an important market opportunity,” Orban said at the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
