Slovak PM Fico offered to host Moscow-Kyiv peace talks, Putin claims

Fico has actually emerged this year, along with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, as an advocate for Putin and for Russia within the European Union, promising to block Ukraine from joining NATO and declining to send out “an additional bullet” of state armed forces help to Kyiv. Fico has actually also helped damage Russia’s global seclusion with his Dec. 22 see to Putin and by guaranteeing to participate in the 80th anniversary of completion of World War II in Moscow in Might 2025.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on the other hand, noted on X complying with the conference in between Fico and Putin that both “did not react or issue joint declarations to media concerns,” affirming it was due to the fact that “they are afraid of the general public’s response.”

No mention was then made of brokering peace talks, although Fico later mentioned in a social media sites article that “during a lengthy conversation with V. Putin we did exchange viewpoints on the army circumstance in Ukraine [and] on the possibilities of bringing the battle to a relaxed end.”

Slovak opposition leader Michal Šimečka informed neighborhood media that if Fico desires peace in between Russia and Ukraine he need to obtain Putin to finish the battle: “If Russia’s army discontinues its attacks, they [Fico and Putin] are welcome to speak tranquility on Fico’s patio if they such as.”

The unannounced pre-Christmas meeting between Fico and Putin was reported at the time as an attempt by the Slovak leader to discover a way around Kyiv’s rejection to extend Russian gas deliveries to Bratislava following the expiry of an existing agreement at the end of 2024.

Slovak Head Of State Robert Fico informed Russian President Vladimir Putin throughout a current check out to Moscow that his country was prepared to broker peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, the TASS information firm reported Thursday.

Putin told reporters at a press meeting following a conference of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council in Leningrad. “Because Slovakia holds a neutral placement from our factor of sight.