Slovak PM promises not to obstruct weapons sale to Ukraine

Robert Fico, Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic, who refused to allow his government to provide military assistance to Ukraine, promises not to obstruct Slovak companies from producing and supplying weapons to their customers, including Ukraine.  Source: Fico's statement quoted by Pravda.sk, reports European Pravda Quote: "If a company wants to produce weapons and supply them somewhere, of course, no one will prevent this," Fico said.

The Slovak prime minister also promised to "do everything possible to help Ukraine in humanitarian terms."

"I guess one of those things could be demining. There is a huge amount of mined areas and unexploded ordnance," said Fico. He also announced plans to provide medical care or assistance with repairs to civilian facilities.

Slovakia's newly-appointed defence minister, Robert Kalinak, wants to renegotiate some of the commercial arms contracts already in place, but he did not provide more details. In October 2022, Denmark signed a letter of intent with Slovakia, Norway, and Germany, stating that the countries jointly decided to make a financial contribution to the Slovak production and transfer of the Zuzana 2 self-propelled artillery systems to Ukraine. Earlier, Fico confirmed that he would not support military assistance to Ukraine, suggesting it would be better for Russia and Ukraine to "negotiate peace for 10 years rather than kill each other for 10 years without any result."

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