Tuesday

19th Mar 2024

Slovakia's Fico goes to Russia

Slovak prime minister Robert Fico will travel to Russia on Thursday (25 August) for a meeting with president Vladimir Putin.

A spokeswoman interviewed by Reuters declined to provide details of the meeting.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

It comes ahead of the G20 summit in China on 4-5 September, where German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande will also meet Putin about the situation in Ukraine and the implementation of the so-called Minsk ceasefire agreement.

It also come before EU member states start a discussion on EU-Russia relations and the bloc's sanctions on Russia.

EU sanctions on Russia are due to be a topic of a planned meeting of EU leaders in October, where they will be discussed within the context of a wider discussion on the bloc’s Russia policy.

A first discussion will be held at an informal meeting of foreign ministers in Bratislava next week.

Slovakia currently chairs the EU Council presidency, giving Fico some leeway to shape the EU agenda.

The Slovak prime minister has in the past been a fierce critic of the sanctions, which were put in place after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in 2014. They are renewed every six months, but critics - including Fico - say they have failed to yield any results. Fico considers Russia an important economic partner, particularly in the field of energy.

Slovakia’s foreign minister Miroslav Lajcak said in June that the EU should change the course of its relations with Russia.

The other meetings

On Thursday morning, before flying to Russia, Fico will have a bilateral meeting with French president Francois Hollande in Paris. On Friday, he will meet Merkel and leaders of the other Visegrad group countries (Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland) in Warsaw.

Lest week Merkel defended the measures, saying they should be prolonged as Russia has not lived up to its commitments under the Minsk agreement.

In an interview with RedaktionsNetzwerks Deutschland she said that Russia had caused a huge crisis by its actions in Ukraine.

"Europe had to react against this violation of basic principles," Merkel said. "This [the accord] is and remains the yardstick for the future of the sanctions.”

She added that she was working with Hollande "with all one's strength" to urge Ukraine and Russia to abide by the Minsk deal.

The Franco-German duo spoke on the phone with Putin on Tuesday (23 August), the Kremlin told Reuters, adding that Putin had shared his concerns over Ukrainian "provocations" with his counterparts.

Earlier this month, Putin accused Ukraine of plotting terrorist attacks in Crimea. But Kiev said that Moscow had fabricated incidents as a pretext for new military action against Ukraine.

EU to uphold ban on Putin's 'cronies'

EU states are expected, next week, to extend for six months their blacklist of Russians and Ukrainians deemed responsible for the war in Ukraine.

Opinion

Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers

The UN could launch an independent international investigation into Navalny's killing, akin to investigation I conducted on Jamal Khashoggi's assassination, or on Navalny's Novichok poisoning, in my role as special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, writes the secretary-general of Amnesty International.

Latest News

  1. Borrell: 'Israel provoking famine', urges more aid access
  2. Europol: Israel-Gaza galvanising Jihadist recruitment in Europe
  3. EU to agree Israeli-settler blacklist, Borrell says
  4. EU ministers keen to use Russian profits for Ukraine ammo
  5. Call to change EIB defence spending rules hits scepticism
  6. Potential legal avenues to prosecute Navalny's killers
  7. EU summit, Gaza, Ukraine, reforms in focus this WEEK
  8. The present and future dystopia of political micro-targeting ads

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us