Premier: Putin Expressed Interest in Meeting with Zelenskyy also Outside Moscow
Speaking on STVR's politics programme 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues), Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer-SD) stated that during his talk with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, the Russian head of state expressed interest in meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also "anywhere else" than in Moscow.
According to the premier, Zelenskyy indicated at the meeting with Fico on Friday (5 September) that he's willing to meet with Putin.
"It wouldn't be politically very good for President Zelenskyy at home if he met with President Putin, and certainly the citizens of the Russian Federation wouldn't be too happy if President Putin met with President Zelenskyy either. But both of them understand, despite the political damage it could cause them, that they need to meet and that things need to be discussed, because if they don't negotiate, the war will continue," opined Fico.
According to him, security guarantees should be given not only to Ukraine but also to Russia. Fico ruled out that Ukraine could join NATO and added that Slovak soldiers won't be deployed in Ukraine. According to him, the support of Slovakia in the issue of security guarantees means for example allowing the transfer of soldiers from other countries through Slovak territory. The war in Ukraine is more complicated than it seems, he said. The premier repeatedly suggested that the Russian-speaking population in the east of the country was discriminated against, which is often claimed by the Russian propaganda.
However, Fico again supported Ukraine's accession to the European Union. In his view, this is a long road for the country but considers its accession to the Union to be beneficial also for the EU itself.
The prime minister reiterated that relations with Russia need to be normalised. After the end of the war, he said, international cooperation with Russia would have to be restarted as soon as possible.
