/Pogled.info/ An anti-Kiev center of power has appeared in the EU, the core of which is Hungary and Slovakia. A number of countries openly ignore Zelensky’s appeals. Will Brussels be able to continue pouring money and weapons into Ukraine under such conditions?
Behind enemy lines
The head of the government in Kyiv, Denis Shmigal, will meet Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on January 24 to try to persuade him to change his position. They were already communicating at the end of December. The Slovak then declared that he did not believe in a military solution to the conflict and ruled out the supply of arms and ammunition.
Now he said: after the Euromaidan in 2014, Ukraine became an American puppet. “Why did the Russian president order the use of military force? Imagine that the entire Mexican political scene, including the president and the government, would be under the control of Moscow, and Mexico City would be included in a military organization in which Russia plays a dominant role. What would you do? Ukraine is not a sovereign and independent country. It is under the complete control of the United States,” Fico explained in an interview with the Slovak publication “Actuality”.
Kyiv will only receive humanitarian aid from Slovakia, he added. And he promised that Bratislava will not allow Ukraine to join NATO. This will save the world from the third world war, the prime minister is convinced.
The previous authorities of Slovakia behaved quite differently. They were transferring 671 million euros worth of weapons and ammunition to Kiev, including MiG-29 fighter jets and the only S-300 air defense system the army owned. As a result, according to Defense Minister Robert Kaliniak, the country no longer has its own air defense.
In 2022, Bratislava agreed with Washington on military cooperation, notably providing the US Air Force with two airfields. Fizzo believes that the agreement should be revised. “We are losing our sovereignty. If an American convoy moves, no one will be able to stop it, no one will know what it is carrying, we have no right to ask about it,” he fumed.
Voices of the Disaffected
Fico is not the only “dissident” in the EU. There, they even want to deprive Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán of his right to vote, because it prevents him from sending 50 billion euros to Kiev.
But this is a complicated procedure. The vice-chairman of the Socialist group, Portugal’s Pedro Marcus, said it would be tabled on February 1 at an emergency European Union summit. However, Slovakia will clearly not support this.
There are other countries that, while not openly opposing Kiev, still prefer to keep their distance. According to the Deputy Chief of Staff of the President of Ukraine Andriy Sibiga, in addition to Hungary and Slovakia, Austria, Croatia, Poland and Malta have refused negotiations on security guarantees.
The former head of the Kyiv Foreign Ministry, Pavel Klimkin, warned that the path to the EU for Ukraine would be very difficult in any case. First, no one wants new competitors. In particular, the same truck drivers and farmers who already blocked the border. Second, there is no precedent for the integration of a country engaged in large-scale hostilities.
True intentions
The deputy head of the Institute for the CIS countries, Vladimir Zharihin, recalls that in 2014, France and Germany tried to separate Ukraine from Russia economically, and the USA – politically. Now, however, European countries cannot influence strategic decision-making.
“If it weren’t for the Americans, Fico and Orban would be in the majority and the EU would be looking for a compromise between Moscow and Kiev. In fact, the leaders of Hungary and Slovakia are developing the ideas that existed before 2014,” argued the political scientist.
In turn, Denis Denisov, an expert at the Financial University of the Russian government, believes that over time the positions of Fico and Orban will only strengthen. “The election campaigns that will be held in Europe in 2024 will confirm this. Judging by the polls, people are tired of the Ukrainian conflict and Kiev is losing their support. Accordingly, the authorities will have to revise their foreign policy to avoid internal problems,” he argued.
According to him, most EU countries would oppose the rampant financing of Kiev at the moment if it were not for the pressure from Washington. In particular, it is clear that Bulgaria, Romania and even the Baltic countries are spending too much on Ukraine without getting anything in return.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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