PS Blasts Fico for Not Explicitly Condemning Russian Aggression in Ukraine

Bratislava, 5 September (TASR) – Former foreign minister (2020-22) Ivan Korcok (Progressive Slovakia/PS) welcomed Friday’s meeting between Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but criticised Fico for failing to clearly condemn the Russian aggression during the joint press conference with Zelenskyy. „It took the Prime Minister two years to realise he needed to meet President Zelenskyy, because ignoring the President of a neighbouring country defending itself against the Russian aggression harms Slovakia. It finally sank in. So it's good they met today,” Korcok said. Korcok added that the Prime Minister entered the meeting in a weakened position. „For Ukrainians, he is merely a spokesperson for Putin, and even ordinary people in Ukraine remember the insults directed at them at a time when they are paying with their lives,” he noted. „Based on what was said at the press conference, the Prime Minister showed enormous weakness by failing, even while standing next to the Ukrainian president, to clearly support Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and to condemn the Russian aggression,” Korcok remarked. Korcok saw the Friday meeting as an olive branch extended by Zelenskyy. „The only thing Fico should do, if today’s talks are not to be just another one-off show on his part, is finally to go to Kiev. He should continue discussions with President Zelenskyy and, above all, stop supporting Russian positions. Today, the Prime Minister failed to seize that opportunity. On the contrary, he repeated only what harms Slovakia,” Korcok concluded. mf