Slovakia is eager to aid the ‘Friends of Peace’ group promoting a diplomatic solution for the Ukraine conflict, Prime Minister Robert Fico has said
Slovakia has pledged to support the ‘Friends of Peace’ platform established to promote a diplomatic solution to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Prime Minister Robert Fico announced on Tuesday. According to Fico, the platform can play an “important role” in bringing about an end to the fighting.
The ‘Friends of Peace’ initiative was set up by China, Brazil, and more than a dozen other countries in September to enable inclusive dialogue on the Ukraine crisis. At its first ministerial meeting, the group called for an immediate end to the conflict through a settlement based on a six-point plan published by China and Brazil earlier this year. The plan, among other things, suggested a ceasefire along the current front lines, highlighted negotiations as the only way to end the conflict, and called for a peace conference that would be endorsed by both Moscow and Kiev.
According to Fico, Bratislava considers the group’s plan valid and would like to help in achieving its goals.
“We offer all our modest capabilities to be able to support this plan in various forms. I am convinced that Brazil, together with China, but also other major countries, will play an extremely important role [in resolving the situation in Ukraine] so that military operations on the territory of Ukraine will stop,” Fico, who is currently on an official visit to Brazil, stated at a press briefing following a meeting with the country’s vice president, Geraldo Alckmin.
Fico has openly criticized Western intervention in the Ukraine conflict, and suspended Bratislava’s military aid to Kiev after assuming office in 2023. Following his visit to China last month, he accused Western politicians of derailing the 2022 peace negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Türkiye, and emphasized the need for a diplomatic solution before tensions between Russia and NATO escalate into a nuclear war.
Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky did not welcome the peace plan proposed by China and Brazil, saying it was nothing but a “political statement” and accusing the two states of “taking Russia’s side” in the conflict. Zelensky has maintained that the only viable path to a settlement with Russia is his ten-point ‘peace formula’, which includes the complete withdrawal of Russian forces from former Ukrainian territories and the restoration of the country’s 1991 borders. He has also insisted on Kiev becoming a NATO member as a security guarantee.
Moscow maintains that any peace settlement must begin with Ukraine ceasing military operations and acknowledging the “territorial reality” that it will never regain control of the Russian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporozhye, as well as Crimea. In addition, the Kremlin insists that the goals of its military operation – which include Ukrainian neutrality, demilitarization, and denazification – will be achieved. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously said he “respected” the efforts of the ‘Friends of Peace’ platform, and has been “carefully monitoring” their proposals.
