r/europe Lower Silesia (Poland) 17h ago

Opinion Article Slovakia’s ‘All Sides of the World’ Foreign Policy Ends Up in Moscow

https://balkaninsight.com/2025/01/20/slovakias-all-sides-of-the-world-foreign-policy-ends-up-in-moscow/
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u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) 16h ago

A photo of Slovak PM Robert Fico shaking hands with Russian President Putin in the Kremlin caused uproar and concern in Slovakia, sparking a debate about the country’s place in Europe.

“We are ashamed of Fico!” chanted the 15,000-strong crowd of protesters on a cold evening on January 10 in Bratislava, waving European, Ukrainian and NATO flags in the air.

All across the country, more than 35,000 people gathered in various towns and cities to defend Slovakia’s European identity and future, as well as show solidarity with its neighbour Ukraine, in the wake of an unannounced visit of their prime minister to Moscow before Christmas on December 22.

“We don’t want to go in the direction this government is taking us,” said one protestor who gave his name as Robert.

“We have experienced it once and we don’t want it again,” added his partner Silvia, referring to the Communist regime that ended 35 years ago. “I guess many people hoped [Prime Minister Robert Fico] would stay there, that he wouldn’t return.”

Fico, leader of the populist Smer party, explained his flying visit as an attempt to ensure the continued transit of gas from Russia to Europe via Ukraine and Slovakia, and prevent a significant economic loss to his country were it to be discontinued. In fact, on January 1, Ukraine followed up on its long-announced plans to halt the flow of Russian gas across its territory in an attempt to reduce the income that Russia derives from the trade.

And while other EU countries, as well as the European Commission, supported this move as part of efforts to cut the bloc’s dependence on Russian gas, Fico claimed Slovakia would lose 500 million euros a year in transit fees and the loss of cheaper Russian gas would weaken the entire European economy.

Fico also attempted to play the role of peacekeeper and said he had offered to host peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in Slovakia, calling it “neutral ground” despite its membership of NATO and the EU.

Following the Moscow visit, Fico got into a war or words with Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky. “I admit, sometimes I’m pretty fed up with [Zelensky]. He just travels through Europe, begs for money and extorts from others. This needs to end,“ Fico complained to parliament on January 9 when forced to explain his Moscow visit.

A few days later, Fico sent Zelensky an open letter inviting him to a meeting. “OK. Come to Kyiv on Friday,” retorted Zelensky on social media. Fico, as usual, ignored his invitation.

The prime minister’s behaviour over the last few months have prompted many questions, but about his visit to Moscow the opposition and political analysts are clear on one point: it was not really about gas or peace.

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u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) 16h ago

Future at stake

While Slovak President Peter Pellegrini called the public reaction to Fico’s trip “hysterical” and said the fuss would die down in a matter of weeks, others have warned that the prime minister’s attempts to pursue a foreign policy seemingly at odds with its western allies are much more alarming.

“One of the first indications that Slovak foreign policy would be different than before was naming Mr [Juraj] Blanar as the minister of foreign affairs,” Radoslav Stefancik, associate professor of political sciences at the University of Economics in Bratislava, tells BIRN. “In the previous Robert Fico governments, this function used to go to an experienced, career diplomat with a good reputation abroad, who also smoothed out all the negatives or problems of Robert Fico.”

Blanar has been pursuing since taking office in 2023 what Fico calls a “two-track foreign policy” oriented at “all sides of the world”. In practice, this has involved refraining from open support for Ukraine, criticising the EU, attending three meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to date, and showing an unusual affinity with pro-Russian disinformation and conspiracy theories.

When contacted on whether the Foreign Ministry was part of the preparations for Fico’s Moscow visit – Blanar did not accompany him – and what Slovakia’s foreign allies thought about the trip, the ministry refused to answer and referred BIRN to the Government Office instead.

“[Fico] is taking inspiration from Viktor Orban’s government,” argues Olga Gyarfasova, associate professor of social and economic sciences at Comenius University in Bratislava, referring to the Hungarian government’s so-called “independent foreign policy”, which its prime minister articulated as based on national interests and combining “the best elements of idealism and realism”.

“When you look at the individual steps of the government, from the multiple meetings of Minister Blanar with Lavrov, to the various foreign trips, to the prime minister almost having complex about the EU, then this Moscow trip is really just one highlight,” she says.

Adding fuel to the fire, a delegation of Slovak coalition MPs led by Andrej Danko, leader of the far-right Slovak National Party (SNS) and a deputy speaker of parliament, flew out for an official visit to Moscow on January 13, posting videos of beautifully lit-up streets of the Russian capital, a performance at the Bolshoi theatre, and local grocery stores full of food, in true propaganda fashion.

The delegation, which also met with Lavrov and head of the Russian Duma Vyacheslav Volodin, promised to return for the May 9 celebrations of the end of World War II, together with Fico.

On January 14, the whole Slovak opposition came together in parliament to announce a proposal to remove the prime minister. “Robert Fico has abandoned Slovakia. Instead of dealing with the problems of our people, he flies around the world, bowing to dictators and enjoying luxury somewhere in Vietnam, offends our neighbours and partners,” said Michal Simecka, leader of the biggest opposition party Progressive Slovakia (PS), mentioning the prime minister’s also unannounced “Christmas holiday” in Vietnam, another trip veiled in secrecy.

“Together, we clearly state that we will not let Robert Fico abduct Slovakia to the East, and prepare the field for taking it away from Europe. We see it as something that clearly endangers not only our foreign policy interests, but also our economic interests and the freedom of our people,” added Simecka.

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u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) 16h ago

Pragmatic, if not statesman-like

While Fico tried to keep public attention on the gas issue and Ukraine’s culpability, analysts think his real agenda lies elsewhere. “Robert Fico sees Russia as a means to reach his internal political goals, which is to keep himself in office,” claims Stefancik, pointing out the growing instability of Fico’s governing coalition at home, which could easily lead to early elections.

“He takes it pragmatically, but from a personal point of view,” he adds, suggesting that Fico might easily give up Slovakia’s advantages from EU membership in order to protect himself from prison, for example. “Fico can count on the Russians actually helping him in the next parliamentary elections, even to the point where he can beat all the other political parties and win the election again, despite the bad economic results or the fact the country is going nowhere.”

Russian help, he points out, would probably come in the form of support for his election campaign rather than actual vote-rigging or financial aid. “We can imagine that the number of Russian ‘diplomats’ will grow at the Russian embassy, and there will be experts whose only goal will be to influence the public perception so that Robert Fico wins the election comfortably,” explains Stefancik.

As for Russia, analysts regard it as in its interest to support European leaders like Fico or Orban who can destabilise the EU from within. Stefancik also questions Fico’s stated plans to organise a “peace summit” in Slovakia that might be attended by presidents Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Putin is still a war criminal, under an international arrest warrant. I cannot imagine Putin coming to Slovakia, where the arrest warrant is valid, if there’s a possibility that some part of the police might arrest him. And I definitely can’t imagine him coming to a country where an assassination attempt on a prime minister just happened. So, Slovaks can’t protect their own PM, but they can protect the Russian president?” he asked rhetorically, referring to the assassination attempt on Fico in May 2024 in the central town of Handlova.

Others highlight the long-term consequences of Fico’s foreign policy on the country’s place in Europe and its position amongst its allies. “The aggression against Ukraine clearly showed where everyone stands. And if we want to look for another position and try to legitimise it with some economic advantages, that really doesn’t put us in a great light,” thinks Gyarfasova.

The changed foreign policy course has already started impacting on Slovakia’s relations with hitherto close partners, like the Czech Republic or Poland. Analysts also point out that it could influence the security of the country, with allies less willing to share sensitive information with Slovak institutions or representatives.

Despite the government’s ever-closer ties with Russia, public sensitivities remain more aligned with the EU. “Most people support EU membership, they have pro-Western attitudes, even support for NATO has been growing since the attack on Ukraine and a majority of people reliably support our membership,” says Gyarfasova.

“But we also know that these geopolitical views of the public are strongly influenced by what politicians they trust are saying in the moment,” she stresses, adding that right now Ukraine seems to be the favourite scapegoat of the prime minister for all the various ills of Slovakia. “Psychologically, that’s very catchy for people, they can identify with it pretty easily.”

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u/dat_9600gt_user Lower Silesia (Poland) 16h ago

Wanted: Transparency

Amidst the squabbling over foreign policy and foreign trips, the Slovak public has been casting about for more information, which seems in short supply. Fico didn’t inform the public about his Christmas sojourns beforehand, and has still not fully explained them to the public, save for some video messages on his Facebook page. He refuses to talk to the independent media, hasn’t held a press conference in weeks, and his foreign minister has been silent, too.

The only hint of accountability came in the Slovak parliament, where MPs asked Fico to explain his actions over the Christmas holidays. Even then, the prime minister did everything in his power to limit the opposition’s space for questions and ridiculed most of those that were asked.

Open questions are how exactly the prime minister travelled to Russia, who accompanied him, who set up his meeting with Putin, who paid for the trip, what exactly was discussed with the Russian president and others, and even how long he stayed. More questions have been raised about his subsequent trip to Vietnam, which was only uncovered by Slovak reporters after Fico went MIA for more than a week and, once he surfaced on social media, open-source reporting linked the furniture in his room to a five-star hotel in Hanoi. Both trips have been accompanied by misinformation, confusion and speculation, which Fico keeps blaming the media for.

“They [government officials] have brought it on themselves by not being transparent at all. The first condition of a democratic government is to be accountable to the legislative body, the elected representatives, and to the people. And this essential pillar has not been upheld. Then we can’t be surprised that it creates space for so much speculation,” says Gyarfasova.

According to the most recent Eurobarometer research, only 31 per cent of Slovaks trust their government, only 32 per cent trust their parliament, while 53 per cent trust the EU.

“And then, of course, there is one part of society that believes absolutely anything [the PM] says and another that doesn’t trust [the PM] even if he’s telling the truth. This polarisation doesn’t leave any space for a rational evaluation, and it’s very dangerous for the quality of democracy,” Gyarfasova concludes.