Ukraine’s top diplomat says it’s “too early” to tell how the results of Slovakia’s Sept. 30 parliamentary poll will affect Bratislava’s approach to Ukraine.
“Ukraine respects the choice that the people of Slovakia made,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, told reporters on Oct. 2.
“It’s too early to judge how these elections will impact the support of [Slovakia for] Ukraine. We have to wait until a coalition is formed.”
Mr. Kuleba’s remarks come less than 48 hours after Slovakia’s SMER-SSD party, led by former Prime Minister Robert Fico, came in first in parliamentary polls with 23 percent of the vote.
An outspoken critic of unqualified support for Kyiv’s war effort, Mr. Fico’s electoral campaign had featured the slogan: “Not one more bullet” for Ukraine.
After his electoral victory was confirmed, Mr. Fico stressed that his party is “prepared to help Ukraine in a humanitarian way.”
“We are prepared to help with the reconstruction of the [Ukrainian] state,” he told reporters. “But you know our opinion on arming Ukraine.”
Mr. Fico has previously said that Slovakia has “bigger problems” than the conflict in Ukraine, including skyrocketing living costs and rampant illegal immigration.
He has also said that his party favored peace talks between Russia and Ukraine with a view to ending the conflict, which recently entered its 20th month.
Mr. Fico’s SMER-SSD is now in talks with other political parties in hopes of forging a workable coalition government. Any such coalition would likely include at least one other party that doesn’t publicly share the SMER-SSD’s stance regarding military support for Kyiv.
Slovakia’s liberal Progressive Party, which backs continued support for Ukraine, came in second in the election, clinching 18 percent of the vote.
His party could seek an alliance with the moderate-left HLAS party, which secured 15 percent of the vote, or the Slovak National Party, which is reportedly pro-Russian in outlook.
U-Turn Expected
A member of the European Union—and NATO—since 2004, Slovakia has until now backed Kyiv against Russia’s ongoing invasion of eastern Ukraine.Under the previous government, Slovakia, a nation of only 5.5 million people, provided Ukraine with disproportionately large volumes of military equipment. Earlier this year, Bratislava, the Slovak capital, was among the first of Kyiv’s many Western allies to provide Ukraine with fighter aircraft.
Slovakia is located west of Ukraine, with which it shares a 60-mile border. According to United Nations figures, the country currently hosts more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees.
Despite Slovakia’s membership in both the EU and NATO, many Slovaks reportedly sympathize with Russia’s claim to be fighting a decadent and hegemonic West.
Under Mr. Fico’s leadership, Slovakia could end up moving closer to Hungary, which remains the only EU and NATO member state to oppose unlimited support for Ukraine.
Until now, the EU has cleaved to a firmly pro-Kyiv stance despite opposition from Hungary, whose nationalist leader, Viktor Orban, has been a vocal critic of EU sanctions on Russia.
In an Oct. 1 social-media post, Mr. Orban congratulated Mr. Fico on his electoral victory: “Always good to work together with a patriot.”
Notably, the Slovak election results weren’t the only piece of bad news that Kyiv received over the weekend.
On the same day, U.S. Congress approved an emergency spending bill—with the aim of averting a government shutdown—that conspicuously omitted funding for Ukraine.
Washington insists that its political and military support for Ukraine, which still enjoys strong bipartisan support, hasn’t wavered. However, some Republican lawmakers, especially those who back former President Donald Trump, have been increasingly vocal in opposition to continued support for Ukraine.
Mr. Kuleba, for his part, said Kyiv was confident of Washington’s continued support for Ukraine’s war effort.
“We don’t feel U.S. support has been shattered,” he said after the spending bill was approved.
Russia Reacts
When asked about Moscow’s reaction to Slovakia’s leadership change, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that coalition talks are underway.“What happens next remains to be seen,” he told reporters on Oct. 2.
But, in general, Mr. Peskov noted, Moscow hoped to see “more politicians [like Mr. Fico] who are experienced, sober, and can realistically assess the situation.”
The spokesman also rejects the characterization of Mr. Fico as “pro-Russian.”
“We now face a situation where any European politician who defends the interests of their country and cares about its sovereignty is immediately written off as ‘pro-Russian,’” he said.
“This is absurd.”
On the eve of Slovakia’s parliamentary poll, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service accused the United States of seeking to sway election results in favor of Slovakia’s Progressive Party.
Washington, the agency said in a statement, “does not want to see another nationally-oriented prime minister [like Mr. Orban] assume power in Europe.”
On Oct. 2, Slovakia’s Foreign Ministry summoned a Russian embassy representative to protest what it described as the intelligence agency’s “false statement.”
“The Department of Diplomacy strongly protests the false statement by Russian intelligence, which cast doubt on the integrity of the free and democratic election in Slovakia,” the ministry stated.
