Slovak foreign minister shakes hands with his Russian counterpart, Slovak PM hails meeting – photo

Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar has met and held talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at a diplomatic forum in Antalya, Turkiye. Source: Slovak news outlet Aktuality, as reported by European Pravda Details: Russia's Foreign Ministry posted a photo of Lavrov and Blanar shaking hands.

Back in 2022, Lavrov and Russian President Vladimir Putin were added to the European Union's sanctions list.

Since then, out of all EU countries, only Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto had had meetings with Lavrov. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said the meeting was an example of "our balanced and sovereign Slovak foreign policy towards all sides of the world". The foreign ministers reportedly discussed the opportunities the peace summit in Switzerland could bring.

"I knew about this meeting, I fully recommended him to meet with the Russian minister," Fico said. The meeting took place at a diplomatic forum in Antalya, Turkiye. In addition to Blanar, Lavrov also met with representatives of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Eswatini.

On the second anniversary of the full-scale war, Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico claimed that Russia started its war against Ukraine in 2014 because "Ukrainian neo-Nazis" were "rampant".

Earlier this week, he convened a security council, raising concerns about a meeting of allies in Paris to discuss support for Ukraine.

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