Slovakian PM says West wants 'Russians to submit'

In an interview with Slovakian broadcaster STVR on October 6, Fico expressed concern about the EU's growing involvement in the ongoing hostilities between Moscow and Kiev, arguing that the conflict cannot be resolved on the battlefield.

“There is a military conflict in a neighbouring country where Slavs are killing each other, and Europe is giving significant support to this killing, which I don’t understand,” Mr Fico said, adding that the war “continues only because it is strongly supported by the West”.

“The sooner it ends, the better,” he stressed, arguing that Western efforts to use the conflict to defeat Moscow would fail.

“Everyone thought that through Ukraine we would bring the Russians to heel, but this Russophobia did not work. It turned out that this problem cannot be solved militarily,” Mr. Fico declared.

Prime Minister Fico, a longtime critic of Western military aid to Kiev, has vowed to block Ukraine from joining NATO, arguing that such a move could set the stage for a potential World War III.

After winning parliamentary elections last year, Mr Fico's Smer-SD party stopped supplying weapons to Ukraine and repeatedly called for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. He pledged to restore trade and political ties with Moscow after the fighting ended, arguing that "the EU needs Russia and Russia needs the EU".

Moscow has condemned Western aid to Kiev, insisting that no amount of foreign aid can stop its troops in Ukraine.