"Only Good For WW3": Slovakia To Oppose Ukraine's NATO Membership Bid

Last October saw a significant shift in Slovakia's trajectory related to its stance on the Ukraine war, after the populist left-wing party Smer took the most votes in the country's national election. Its head, who ascended to his fourth term as prime minister, Robert Fico, advanced a platform of pursuing peace in Ukraine rather than continuing to pour weapons into an increasingly hopeless campaign to evict Russian forces from the country's eastern provinces. 

In the wake of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken earlier this month controversially declaring "Ukraine will become a member of NATO" - Slovakia under PM Fico is pushing back. He said in fresh comments at a press conference that Slovakia will stand firmly against any efforts to pursue Ukraine's accession into NATO.

"Ukraine may say: ‘We want to join NATO.’ This will be their own decision. We are saying that we will not ratify [the documents on Ukraine’s accession to NATO] in parliament because Slovakia needs a neutral Ukraine. Slovakia’s interests will be threatened if Ukraine becomes a NATO member," Fico said.

However, while rejecting the idea of Ukraine being in NATO, he did say that Slovakia supports Ukraine's bid to become a member of the European Union. "The Slovak prime minister expressed hope that Brussels and Kiev begin talks on launching this process as soon as possible," Russian media indicated.

In separate comments days ago he explained that "Ukraine’s membership in NATO is only good for World War III. An independent Ukraine is enough for us."

Those remarks were made in a weekend radio interview, where he went on to explain of his plans for relations with Moscow: "In the aftermath of conflict, there’s a keen interest in re-establishing normalcy in relations with Moscow," he said.

"I want to pursue a policy of good, friendly relations with anyone interested in such a policy," Fico affirmed while highlighting the small country of Slovakia's geography.

Back in September, just ahead of his becoming prime minister again, Fico said that "Peace is the only solution" and explained,  "I refuse to get criticized and labeled as a warmonger just for talking about peace, whereas those who support war and killing are being called peace activists. We have it all messed up in our heads. We will not send a single bullet to Ukraine from the state stocks.”

Fico has also said the Ukraine war didn't start in 2022: "I say it loud and clear and will do so: The war in Ukraine didn’t start yesterday or last year. It began in 2014, when the Ukrainian Nazis and fascists started to murder the Russian citizens in Donbas and Luhansk."

A March opinion poll found that 51% of Slovakians think the West and/or Ukraine are responsible for the conflict. Half also said the United States posed a security threat to their country. Fico's opposition to arming Ukraine and his support for an immediate, negotiated peace echoes the stance of neighboring Hungary, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Both countries have borders with Ukraine.