Fico announced Slovakia's refusal to provide military support to Ukraine

The Slovak authorities do not intend to finance Ukraine's military needs, Prime Minister Robert Fico said on April 16.

"The government of the Slovak Republic will not make any donations to Ukraine in terms of military assistance, and we will also not participate in financial mechanisms for the purchase of weapons for Ukraine," the politician said at a press conference with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

Fico added that, in the current circumstances, it is absolutely necessary to resume transit of Russian gas through Ukraine as soon as possible.

"Until the gas flow from east to west is restored, we will not be able to compete," he said.

"More than 50% of Slovakians blame the West and Ukraine for what is happening"

Russian Ambassador to Bratislava Igor Bratchikov — on honoring Soviet soldiers, the investigation of the assassination attempt on Fico and the republic's cooperation with the BRICS countries

On April 11, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Kiev, in collusion with the European Union (EU), had stopped the transit of Russian gas through its territory in order to involve Hungary and Slovakia in the conflict in Ukraine. He noted that gas supplies to the east of Hungary have practically stopped. At the same time, European countries are ready to continue the Ukrainian conflict and allocate money for it, he added. Thus, the Ukrainian conflict is closely linked to rising inflation in the European region.

A day earlier, Fico said in an interview with Izvestia that Ukraine should never join NATO, since Kiev's membership in the alliance poses a threat to the world that he cannot even imagine.