Slovakia’s prime minister ‘would have loved to have joined Orbán in Moscow’
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Robert Fico, the Slovakian prime minister, said he would have loved to have joined Hungary’s Viktor Orbán on his trip to meet Vladimir Putin if his health had permitted it.
Mr Orbán angered western EU and Nato allies when he travelled to Moscow on Friday to meet the Russian president, whose country invaded neighbouring Ukraine in February 2022.
He visited Kyiv and Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, earlier this week, just after his country had taken over the rotating six-month presidency of the European Union.
In his first speaking appearance after surviving an assassination attempt on May 15 Mr Fico said: “I want to express my admiration for the Hungarian premier for travelling to Kyiv and Moscow without hesitating. If my state of health allowed me to go, I would have loved to join him.”
Mr Fico delivered his speech standing, though he appeared to have lost weight and his voice sounded weaker than before the attack.
Both Hungary and Slovakia have refused to provide military aid to Ukraine under Orbán and Fico, who are seen as Russia’s closest allies in the EU.
Mr Orbán said he was on a mission to help end the war. Both he and Mr Fico are advocating peace talks with Russia. “There are never enough peace talks and initiatives,” Mr Fico said on Friday.
Mr Fico, 59, is recovering from the serious injuries he suffered when a gunman shot him four times from close range after a government meeting in central Slovakia.
The gunman, identified by Slovakian media as 71-year-old poet and author Juraj Cintula, is being prosecuted on terrorism charges. He is currently in custody awaiting trial.
Mr Fico leads a three-party governing coalition of his centrist nationalist Smer-SD party, the centrist Hlas and the far-Right SNS.
He underwent two lengthy surgeries in hospital and was transferred for home treatment to the capital Bratislava on May 31.
On Friday, he made his first appearance at a ceremony marking the arrival of St Cyril and Methodius in former Great Moravia in 863 to spread Christianity among the Slavic people. His speech at Devín Castle near Bratislava lasted more than 15 minutes and was greeted by a standing ovation.
