Slovakian Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár has called on the West to “forgive everything that has happened” to end Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Slovakia and Hungary vetoed the EU’s 18th sanctions package on Russia a week prior, citing the need to rely on Russian energy imports.
Blanár, in a Sunday comment on Slovak broadcaster STVR, argued that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine cannot be ended militarily and called for diplomatic dialogue with Moscow, which launched the full-scale invasion in 2022 that is still ongoing.
“Let us return to respect for international law and seek ways to communicate with the Russian Federation,” Blanár said.
Blanár then went on to suggest the West “forgive” Moscow for the invasion and everything that it entails.
“And perhaps even forgive everything that has happened,” Blanár added.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha slammed Blanár’s statement and said “those who have lost no one in this war have no right to make such statements.”
“It’s naive to expect a criminal to stop if their crime is forgiven instead of punished. Russia will hit your other cheek as well. And those who have lost no one in this war have no right to make such statements,” Sybiha said on X.
Moscow’s invasion has been marked by a range of war crime accusations – from the Bucha massacre in early 2022 to ongoing drone strikes in Kherson, described as a “human safari” and condemned in a UN report as indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks on civilians.
Diplomatic means to end Russia’s invasion – by both the West and Kremlin ally China – have yielded no results thus far, with Moscow continuing to brush off ceasefire calls.
On June 20, Moscow once again rejected all calls for a ceasefire.
“We have a strategic advantage now. Why should we lose it? We’re not going to lose it. We’re moving forward. We are moving forward and we will continue to move forward,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said during an interview with Sky News published Friday.
Earlier, Russia said it would only stop fighting if certain conditions were met – including the full withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from four occupied regions, a halt to Western military support, an end to mobilization, and the lifting of martial law in Ukraine.
On June 27, Russian leader Vladimir Putin acknowledged that the Ukrainian and Russian peace proposals are at an impasse.