Slovakia – Most of the observers thought that such a decision might be taken by the winner of the last parliamentary elections in Slovakia, Robert Fico, whose Smer-SD has meanwhile signed an agreement with Pellegrini’s Hlas-SD and the right wing Slovak National Party (SNS) in order to form a government. In fact, it was Zuzana Čaputová – herself opposed to such a measure – who decided not to allow the interim government of Ľudovít Ódor to deliver further weapons to Ukraine.

Čaputová decided to respect the results of the people’s vote

Indeed the elections have been won by political parties refusing the pursuit of military aid to Kyiv and having said it quite loudly during their campaign, that’s why Mrs Čaputová considered that she could not, on one side, ask Smer-leader Robert Fico to form a new cabinet, and, on the other side, allow the outgoing government to take measures that Fico would probably anyway cancel as soon as he would be Prime minister. This new military aid package should include ammunition for T-72 tanks and some other types of ammunition, so the Slovak newspaper Denník N. Slovakia has already delivered S-300 air defense systems as well as MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, that is facing a Russian military aggression since February 2022.

The statement of the Slovak presidency precised clearly that “the approval of the military aid package by the outgoing government would set a dangerous precedent for a change of power after the next election.”

Her spokesman, Martin Strižinec, expressed also in the same way that “all the political parties that are negotiating a new government today on the basis of a mandate unequivocally reject such aid.” Therefore, “in this situation, deciding on the provision of military equipment would not be a good precedent for a change of political power after any elections. Neither today nor in the future.” He further added that, although “the president does not approve or oppose the provision of military aid”, “it is necessary to respect the results of the elections and wait for the conclusions of the negotiations on the formation of a new government, which are currently taking place.”

Kyiv and Prague criticize the Slovak decision

However this decision of Bratislava has already been criticized in Kyiv and in Prague. So the secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council, Danilov, declared that “it is important to realize that the influence of Russian agents in Slovakia is absolutely insane.” On his part, the Czech Prime minister Petr Fiala could not hide his disagreement on this issue: “For understandable reasons, it is difficult for me to comment on the decision of another country, but I hope it will not be impolite if I say that I do not consider Slovakia’s approach to be fortunate (…) Ukraine needs our help, and fast, because it is fighting not only for its independence, but also for peace in Europe. That is why we must take advantage of all opportunities to help Ukraine.”