Fico Conveys Message to Putin about Zelenskyy's Willingness to Meet

Moscow/Bratislava, 9 May (TASR) - Slovak Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) conveyed a message from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow on Saturday, declaring Zelenskyy's readiness for a face-to-face meeting with Putin in any format, Fico said in a video on social media. Putin responded by saying that the Ukrainian president should contact him by phone in that case. "I passed on a message from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the Russian president. During our personal meeting in Armenia on Monday (4 May), he told me that he was ready to meet Vladimir Putin in any format. The answer is clear. If the Ukrainian president is interested in a meeting, he should contact his Russian counterpart by phone," said Fico. Fico reiterated that diplomatic solutions and dialogue are "a thousand times more useful than killing each other" in the current situation. According to Fico, it has once again been confirmed that it's a huge mistake not to engage in an equal political dialogue with the Russian side, with the European Union only imposing sanctions that lead to nothing but Russia's greater self-sufficiency in several areas, or "providing war loans and support for the war, things in which Slovakia doesn't participate". Fico criticised EU member states that didn't allow him to fly through their airspace on his way to Moscow for the Victory over Fascism celebrations, but said he isn't planning any retaliatory measures. "If they need to fly over our territory anywhere and for any purpose, we won't prevent them from doing so. We should fight for fundamental things, not for trivialities," stated Fico. The Slovak premier reiterated that he rejects "a new Iron Curtain" between the European Union and Russia and is interested in "standard, friendly and mutually beneficial relations with this world power". He also criticised the EU's intention to completely cut itself off from Russian energy, calling it "ideologically-driven and harmful to European competitiveness". According to him, Europe cannot, "just because of hatred towards Russia", replace one energy dependency with another, this time an American one, which "would be even much more expensive". Fico called higher energy prices "a tax that we in Europe have to pay for our own foolishness and ideological obsession with Russia". He also warned against the potential entry of US companies into Europe's gas and oil network. "They will buy gas and oil from Russia at standard prices and then pass it on to us with a high American surcharge," he said. The premier also announced the resumption of the work of the Slovak-Russian inter-governmental commission for economic cooperation, whose next meeting will be held in Moscow under the leadership of Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD). ko