Policy

“We will finally have a more reliable neighbor.” Fico’s party says what will happen if Russians capture Kyiv

Eric Kaliniak, a member of the ruling SMER-SD party and nephew of Slovak Deputy Prime Minister, said that if the Russians capture Kyiv, Slovakia will have a more reliable neighbor than Ukraine.

He said this in an interview with Interez, Aktuality reports , Komersant ukrainskyi reports.

When the journalist asked Kaliniak what it would mean for Slovakia if there were Russians in Kyiv, he replied that he would be “cynical” and said that in this case Slovakia would have a more reliable partner.

“If you look at Slovak-Ukrainian relations and how many times we had to rescue them after they (Ukrainians – ed.) created an economic conflict with Russia, and how many times they were unable to help us, then from this point of view, the Russians are a more reliable partner for us,” he said, but added that he did not want Russians on the borders with Slovakia.

Representatives of the pro-European Slovak party Progresívne Slovensko consider Kaliniak’s words to be high treason. They say that the ruling party’s policy is a “Russian province.”

“Fico is dragging us away from Europe, burning bridges with our allies, giving us into the hands of Putin and Trump. This is high treason. He has no legitimacy for this, this government must go as soon as possible, and the only solution is early elections,” the opposition politicians said.

What have Slovak politicians said about Ukraine in the past?

Andrej Danko, Deputy Chairman of the National Council of Slovakia and leader of the Slovak National Party, believed that Ukraine should return the aid provided by the previous government. This amount allegedly reaches 3.5 billion euros. He said this in a video titled “Will Ukrainians return our money?”.

In his video, he spoke about the minerals agreement between Ukraine and the United States, through which Washington wants to return the money that the previous administration allocated for aid.

He added that if the Germans, French, and Americans ask for the money to be returned, Slovakia “cannot remain silent.”

Throughout the video, the politician did not mention that Russia had invaded Ukrainian territory, referring to the war as a “conflict” or “events in Ukraine.”