Fico: I'll Never Introduce Antipathy into Slovak-Russian Relations

Banska Bystrica, August 29 (TASR) – I’ll never introduce antipathy into Slovak-Russian relations, and I refuse to create a new enemy, said Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico at the ceremony to mark the anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) in WWII in Banska Bystrica on Monday.

Fico stated that it seems that there are efforts to find an enemy on which to lay all the blame. He stressed that the Red Army played an indisputable role in the liberation of Slovakia during WWII and that this fact mustn’t be forgotten.

At the same time he stated that he’s been disturbed internally because certain political parties have been spreading hatred and making it part of their official doctrines. There’s a need to erect a barrier to this, he said.

“Hate means a path to hell. If hate governs this country, may God protect Slovakia as such,” said the prime minister.

Nevertheless, Fico stated that he’s been equally disturbed by an apparently easy approach by some foreign politicians towards peace and the use of weapons.

“During the visit of British Prime Minister Theresa May to Slovakia [in July – ed. note], I was chilled to hear her responding to the question of whether she’d be ready to use a nuclear weapon, when she said without any hesitation – ‘yes, of course, I’d be ready to use a nuclear weapon’. I didn’t experience WWII and the SNP, but it was enough for me to go to Afghanistan to take home our dead soldiers and to see severely wounded servicemen in hospital. This has left a deep scar on my heart. If anybody says that we should resolve our political problems in this way, they’re doing something very, very wrong,” added Fico.