How Fico unexpectedly changed his stance on Ukraine and what Trump has to do with it

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico met for the first time with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (at least, if we don’t count brief exchanges during EU events).

Fico had planned this meeting as an opportunity to pressure Ukraine, but things turned out quite the opposite.

Read more about why the head of the Slovak government was forced to radically change his rhetoric toward Ukraine in the article by Yurii Panchenko, European Pravda's editor: Fico’s U-turn: what made Slovakia’s leader change his policy toward Ukraine. 

Robert Fico has never been a friend of Ukraine, and his return to power two years ago became a real challenge for Ukrainian–Slovak relations.

Yet despite the fact that a large part of Fico’s electorate is anti-Western and pro-Russian (and therefore also anti-Ukrainian), he did not become "another Orbán."

The new Slovak government maintained military cooperation with Ukraine, did not block sanctions against Russia or other important issues for Kyiv, and even publicly supported Ukraine’s EU membership.

The real crisis in relations began only at the start of this year.

The reason was Ukraine’s halt of Russian gas transit across its territory.

Tensions grew further when the EU planned to completely abandon Russian energy resources (which even led Bratislava to briefly block another sanctions package against Russia), as well as after Ukrainian Armed Forces struck the infrastructure of the Druzhba oil pipeline, temporarily cutting supplies of Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia.

In response to the strikes on Druzhba, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Fico began jointly complaining to the European Commission about Ukraine’s actions.

Against this backdrop, Bratislava suddenly accepted the invitation and agreed to direct talks between Zelenskyy and Fico.

For a long time, however, this looked less like Robert Fico’s willingness to "reset" relations with Ukraine than as part of his strategy to pressure Kyiv.

On 2 September 2, during talks with Fico in China, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin gave his "advice" on how Slovakia should deal with Ukraine: "Cut off their reverse gas supplies, cut off their electricity supplies, and they will immediately understand that there are certain limits to their behavior when it comes to infringing on others’ interests."

This statement was meant to strengthen Fico’s negotiating position with Ukraine. But just one day before the meeting in Uzhhorod, the balance of power shifted dramatically – and with it, Robert Fico’s negotiating stance.

According to media reports, during a phone call with European leaders on 4 September, US President Donald Trump urged Europe to stop buying Russian oil.

Such a statement completely changed the picture – both for Hungary and for Slovakia.

And Robert Fico reacted to these signals.

It can be said that the Uzhhorod meeting (first with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, then with Prime Minister Yuliia Svyrydenko) has every chance of becoming a reset in relations between the two countries.

Judging by the Slovak prime minister’s statements, it seems Robert Fico has fully stepped out of the "anti-Ukrainian" alliance with Orbán.

Even though Hungary has now been left without allies on the issue of energy cooperation with Russia, Budapest still declares that its policy remains unchanged.

However, without allies (and without Trump’s support), Viktor Orbán will find it even harder to oppose the entire European Union.

And that is yet another result of the Uzhhorod meeting on 5 September.