Situation at a glance: Slovakian Prime Minister Fico outrages with a visit to Putin

With a surprise visit to Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico caused great shock in the EU country that borders Ukraine. Opposition politicians accused him of betraying his own country with his trip to Moscow – the first by an official representative of the Slovak Republic since Russia invaded Ukraine almost three years ago. According to both sides, the conversation with Putin was about, among other things, Russian natural gas deliveries to Slovakia, which has been a member of both NATO and the European Union since 2004.

Unlike its southern neighbor Hungary, Slovakia has so far supported without exception all aid to Ukraine decided by the EU as well as all sanctions directed against Russia. In striking contrast, the left-wing populist Fico repeatedly attracts attention through his public criticism of the EU and NATO’s Ukraine policy. The background to his visit to Moscow is that Russian gas deliveries to Slovakia will be stopped at the end of the year because Ukraine no longer allows transit through its territory.

“Fico is a shame for Slovakia”

The Slovak opposition reacted indignantly to the meeting in the Kremlin. “The prime minister should discuss gas transit for Slovakia in Kiev,” Michal Simecka, the leader of the largest opposition party, told the TASR news agency. Fico’s visit to Putin was “a lying theater for his voters,” said the head of the liberal Progressive Slovakia (PS). “In doing so, he is betraying his own country and leading us step by step away from Europe.”

Branislav Gröhling, head of the smaller liberal opposition party Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), formulated his criticism even more sharply: “Robert Fico is a disgrace for Slovakia. He does not behave like a head of government of a sovereign country, but like an ordinary collaborator.” Fico does not speak for the entire Slovak nation, emphasized Gröhling.

Visits by top European politicians to Moscow have become rare since the war began almost three years ago. When Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer became the first Western head of government to meet Putin in Moscow a few weeks after the attack on Ukraine, he received biting criticism. The Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s unauthorized visit to the Kremlin chief in July of this year was also not appreciated by his EU colleagues, but was less surprising given his well-known close contacts with Moscow.

Slovakia is threatened with a gas crisis

In the days before his meeting with Putin, Fico had tried in vain, among other things, at the EU summit in Brussels to avert the end of the transit of Russian gas to Slovakia announced by Ukraine. His country is threatened with a serious crisis because it is completely dependent on Russian gas and has hardly any alternatives, he emphasized. Slovakia had therefore received permission from the EU to continue purchasing Russian gas. However, this EU approval is effectively worthless for the country, as Ukraine will no longer allow gas transit from the turn of the year.

At the most recent EU summit, there was an exchange of words between Fico and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which both politicians confirmed. Zelenskyj explained that while Slovakia only had economic problems, people in his country were dying every day.

EU Council President António Costa was informed about Fico’s trip to Moscow, EU circles said on Sunday evening. It is doubtful whether he agreed with this. There was no official final statement after the meeting in the Kremlin. The Russian side remained silent about the content; it had previously only hinted at gas deliveries as a possible topic.

Fico defends visit to Putin

Fico then posted a statement on Facebook with a photo of himself and Putin. The Slovakian wrote that he was pursuing sovereign politics and had informed the highest representatives of the EU about his trip on Friday. This is a reaction to the announced stop of gas transit and Zelensky’s call for sanctions against the Russian nuclear program, which would also endanger Kiev’s electricity generation in Slovakian power plants. He also discussed the military situation in Ukraine and the possibility of an early peaceful end to the war with Putin.

When it comes to Ukraine policy, there are sometimes major differences of opinion between both the EU and NATO member states. The same applies to Zelensky’s demands on the Western allies. The Ukrainian president repeatedly criticized the federal government’s hesitant attitude and most recently criticized Chancellor Olaf Scholz for calling Putin on the phone against his will. In public, he repeatedly expressed incomprehension of the Chancellor’s rejection of the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

NATO boss Rutte: Zelensky’s criticism of Scholz is unfair

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte believes the sometimes harsh criticism of the Chancellor is unjustified. “I have often told Zelenskyj that he should stop criticizing Olaf Scholz because I think that is unfair,” said Rutte in an interview with the German Press Agency. What Scholz has done for Ukraine is impressive. He helped ensure that Germany was Ukraine’s second most important military supporter after the USA – and Kiev can also be grateful for this achievement.

At the same time, Rutte made it clear that he would also supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles and would not impose any restrictions on their use. “In general, we know that such capabilities are very important for Ukraine,” said the former Dutch prime minister. But it is not up to him to decide what allies should deliver.

Russian drone swarms over Ukraine

While discussions continue at the political level about the right course to take in times of war, the fighting in Ukraine continues. Late in the evening, Ukrainian air defense once again reported swarms of Russian combat drones flying in from different directions. Their destinations were not initially apparent because of the constantly changing flight directions. With this tactic, the Russian military is trying to overload the Ukrainian air defense system.

Russia wants to wear down the Ukrainian population in the third winter of the war with ever-increasing drone and missile attacks. Many of the attacks are aimed at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in order to bring the supply of electricity – and thus also water and district heating – to a standstill.

Putin had threatened retaliation this morning after a Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian city of Kazan on the Volga. Six Ukrainian drones hit residential buildings there on Saturday and another hit an industrial plant. According to official information, there were no injuries in the attack.

Freely accessible report from the Slovak news agency TASR, Slovak Facebook message from Robert Fico about his discussion with Volodymyr Zelenskyj, Slovak