Slovakia Faces Increasing Isolation as Allies Exclude it From Ukraine Meeting

France organized a follow-up teleconference bringing together foreign and defense ministries to discuss the war in Ukraine. However, they ‘learned their lesson’ and did not invite Slovakia because of its pro-Russian stance.

Representatives from 28 countries, including Ukraine and the US, held an ad hoc ministerial teleconference on Thursday (March 7) to follow up on last week’s Ukraine summit in Paris.

But no Slovak representatives were invited to the follow-up meeting organized by France. The Slovak government has not commented on this situation.

“The French have learnt their lesson,” two sources told the Slovak newspaper Denník N., referring to last week’s controversial comments by Prime Minister Robert Fico, which caused a stir.

During a meeting before the Paris summit, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico “slammed the West’s strategy towards Ukraine,” by asserting that the EU wanted to send soldiers to fight in Ukraine. He also declared that he “will do anything to prevent the direct participation of Slovak soldiers in the war.”

Following Fico’s comments, the issue of sending Western troops to Ukraine became the topic of the conference that was the most debated.

According to Richard Sulík, leader of one of the main opposition parties SaS, Slovakia’s absence from the meeting was a huge disgrace for the country.

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“We won’t be invited to Western Europe anymore. At least we still have Belarus and Russia, right? The diplomacy of Fico’s government and Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár is such a terrible shame,” Sulík wrote in a social media post.

France’s decision follows the comments of former Slovakian defense minister Jaroslav Naď. The pro-Western politician recalled that Fico was not even originally called to the Paris summit, but France sent him an invitation after he specifically “requested” it.

Naď also stated that since Fico took power, Slovakia is no longer invited to various closed forums within the EU and NATO due to its pro-Russian stance.

“Former ministerial colleagues tell me that allies are afraid of information leaks. They perceive there is an unconstructive approach on the Slovakian side. In other words, Slovak foreign policy is currently in extremely bad shape, and is an embarrassment for us,” Naď told the press last week.

The decision not to invite Slovak representatives to the teleconference came just a day after the Czech government suspended intergovernmental cooperation with Slovakia, citing “significant differences on foreign policy issues.”

Slovakia’s descent into isolation may be further exacerbated by yesterday’s selection of Pavol Gašpar as the new de facto head of the country’s top intelligence agency – the Slovak Information Service (SIS).

To appoint him, Fico’s government had to change the agency’s statute to bypass pro-EU Slovak president Zuzana Čaputová.

The new SIS chief, Pavol Gašpar, is the son of Tibor Gašpar, a member of parliament from Fico’s Smer party and a former police chief, currently on trial for forming and leading an organized crime group.

Gašpar is well known for being a fervent admirer of his father, facing charges for false statements, lying under oath, and suspected of giving a bribe of €60,000 to police officers.

This article by Natália Silenská is reprinted from Euractiv. See the original here.