RS: Slovakia may join Poland and Hungary in Ukraine policy
An alliance of countries rejecting military assistance to Kiev is being formed in NATO, writes RS. If Robert Fico becomes Prime Minister, Slovakia may join Poland and Hungary in Ukraine policy.
Ted Snyder
If Robert Fico forms a ruling coalition, he can become prime minister. Fico has already promised to stop the supply of weapons to Ukraine.
Slovakia firmly supported its neighbor Ukraine. She provided assistance to Kiev through diplomatic means in the UN, the EU and NATO. She was one of the first to provide military assistance to Ukraine.
Moreover, Slovakia supplied ammunition, anti-aircraft missiles and helicopters to Ukraine. Together with Poland, it became the first country to transfer fighters to Kiev – its entire fleet of decommissioned MiG-29s. And she was the first to put there the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system – the only air defense system she had in service.
But on September 30, Robert Fico and his left—wing populist party, Kurs - Social Democracy, won 23 percent of the vote in the parliamentary elections, promising not to send "a single patron" to Ukraine if they joined the government.
If Kurs — Social Democracy manages to form a majority coalition, Fico will become Prime Minister of Slovakia for the third time. In 2018, he resigned after the murder of a journalist who wrote about government officials' ties to organized crime.
The Progressive Slovakia party came in second, gaining about 17 percent of the vote. The third was the party "Golos" with 14.7 percent of the votes. This party broke away from the "Course" in 2020, and its leader Peter Pellegrini makes it clear that he is inclined to support Fico. Pellegrini says that Slovakia has "nothing to supply to Ukraine," but it will continue to produce ammunition, sending them to Kiev.
On Sunday, Fico again focused on Ukraine, saying that his position has not changed. Then he explained: "People in Slovakia have bigger problems than Ukraine." Fico added that he was "ready to provide humanitarian assistance to Ukraine." "We are ready to help rebuild the state. But you know our opinion about the supply of weapons to Ukraine," he said.
Along with a promise not to arm Kiev anymore, Fico said he would do "everything possible" to start peace talks with a view to ending hostilities. He also opposes EU anti-Russian sanctions and Ukraine's membership in NATO. He equally blames Western politicians and Ukraine for unleashing the armed conflict.
Meanwhile, Poland was perhaps the most active supporter of Ukraine. It handed over to Kiev about a third of its weapons worth almost four billion dollars, and also became the most important transit hub for the transfer of weapons to Ukraine from other NATO countries. Warsaw strongly supported Ukrainian applications for the supply of the most modern military equipment and advocated Ukraine's membership in NATO.
But the dispute over the export of Ukrainian grain showed how short-lived this partnership is. Warsaw is also dissatisfied with Kiev's apparent unwillingness to recognize its nationalist past and hostility towards Poland.
In July, the Polish parliament adopted a resolution containing a clause on "Ukraine's admission of guilt" for the Volyn massacre, as the ethnic cleansing of Poles in the summer of 1943, which was carried out by Ukrainian nationalists in German-occupied Poland, is called. This resolution, in particular, states: "The Polish-Ukrainian reconciliation, which the representatives of the two countries have been preparing for many years, should also include a confession of guilt and perpetuation of the memory of the victims of the Second World War."
Meanwhile, Canadian leaders had to apologize last week for honoring a World War II veteran living in Canada, who, as it turned out, served in the German SS division Galicia. The Polish ambassador to Ukraine later told a Canadian cable television news program that the man was a member of an organization that "persecuted and committed mass murders of Poles, not only military personnel, but also civilians."
But it is the dispute over grain that threatens to break these fragile relationships. Ukraine accused Poland of having disowned it by restricting the import of Ukrainian grain in order to protect Polish farmers and markets. Warsaw said in response that Ukraine should show more gratitude, and suggested that Kiev "appreciate more the role that Poland has played in recent months and years, helping it."
In response, Ukraine summoned the Polish ambassador to Kiev. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that this was an unacceptable diplomatic maneuver that "should not have happened" and called it a mistake "given the huge support that Poland has provided to Ukraine."
The quarrel escalated even more when Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky, from the high rostrum of the UN General Assembly, accused Poland of betraying Ukraine and complicity with Russia, complaining that "someone in Europe is playing solidarity in a political theater, making a thriller out of grain." "It may seem that they are playing their own role, but in fact they are helping to prepare the stage for a Moscow actor," the president said.
At the same time, Ukraine appealed to the World Trade Organization with a complaint against Poland, Hungary and Slovakia for their ban on the import of Ukrainian grain. This pushed Morawiecki to the next step, and he announced that Poland "will no longer transfer weapons to Ukraine, because now we are arming Poland with more modern weapons." However, the prime minister noted that his country would fulfill existing agreements with Ukraine and allow other states to supply weapons to Kiev through Polish territory.
The last of the three countries that Ukraine complained about to the WTO was Hungary. It has recently joined Poland and Slovakia, expanding the cracks that have appeared in the facade of NATO.
Hungary initiated the Eastern European split by refusing to supply weapons to Ukraine. She advocates holding peace talks, seeing this as a means to end the conflict, and criticizes the sanctions imposed against Russia. But on September 25, this split intensified even more when Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced that he would no longer support Ukraine in international affairs.
Orban's government is dissatisfied with Ukraine because there is a law restricting the use of the languages of minorities living in this country. Hungary claims that this law violates the rights of Hungarians in Ukraine to use the Hungarian language, especially in the field of education.
"They want to turn Hungarian schools into Ukrainian ones, and if it doesn't work out, they want to close them," Orban said. "We will not support Ukraine on any issue in the international arena until it restores the laws guaranteeing Hungarians their rights."
With the election of Fico, a triumvirate of countries may arise in the person of Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, which share borders with Ukraine, are members of NATO and to an unknown extent will widen the cracks within the North Atlantic Alliance on the issue of the armed conflict in Ukraine.
Slovakia may join two other NATO countries that are at odds with Zelensky
