Frictions between the Czech Republic and Slovakia over Ukraine

Frictions between the Czech Republic and Slovakia over Ukraine

The Czech government announced on Wednesday that it was abandoning bilateral meetings with the Slovak cabinet in the coming months, due to differences over aid to Ukraine.

1 min

With our correspondent in Prague, Alexis Rosenzweig

The head of the Slovak government claims to be for peace, but his rhetoric sometimes recalls that of the Kremlin, when he repeatedly repeats that “ the war started in 2014 because of Ukrainian neo-Nazis “.

Robert Fico also sent his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Juraj Blanar, to Turkey at the beginning of March to shake the hand of the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov.

The gesture was too much for the Czech government, which consequently decided to suspend regular bilateral consultations with the Slovak government last week.

Scandalized reaction on Wednesday in a video message from Mr. Fico, according to which Prague “ endangers excellent Slovak-Czech relations only because the Czech government supports the war in Ukraine “.

Prague vigorously supports Ukraine against Russia and President Petr Pavel has just announced that the Czech project for the shared purchase of shells, also supported by France, was now fully funded. The first munitions could be delivered to the Ukrainian army in the coming weeks.

Since the election of Robert Fico, the Visegrad group of four countries has literally imploded on the Ukrainian question, with Czechia and Poland on one side in favor of unconditional support for Kiev, and on the other, Viktor Orban’s Hungary with therefore Slovakia, very willing to negotiate with the Russians.

Robert Fico, however, recently announced a bilateral meeting between his government and Ukrainian ministers on April 11, near the Ukrainian border in eastern Slovakia. It remains to be seen whether this meeting will be confirmed.

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