Re: Вторжение РФии в Украину бис
NATO and EU countries are 'considering sending troops to Ukraine', Slovakia's pro-Moscow PM Robert Fico claims
Story by Miriam Kuepper
NATO and EU countries are considering sending troops to Ukraine, Slovakia's pro-Moscow Prime Minister has extraordinarily claimed.
Slovak leader Robert Fico, who has long opposed military supplies to Ukraine and has taken a position seen by some critics as pro-Russian, said today that he learnt of the idea via notes ahead of a meeting of European leaders in Paris.
While he added that he did not know what troops would be doing in the war-torn country, he said a move like that will likely lead to escalation.
'I will limit myself to say that these theses (in preparation for the Paris meeting) imply a number of NATO and EU member states are considering that they will send their troops to Ukraine on a bilateral basis,' Fico told a televised briefing following a meeting of Slovakia's security council.
'I cannot say for what purpose and what they should be doing there,' he said, adding that Slovakia, a member of the EU and NATO, would not be sending soldiers to Ukraine.
French President Emmanuel Macron, left, welcomes Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Monday, February 26
Members of NATO have supplied billions of dollars in arms and ammunition to Kyiv and are training Ukrainian forces.
But NATO leaders including US President Joe Biden have underlined that the Western military alliance wants to avoid a direct conflict with Russia, which could lead to a global war.
'Neither NATO nor NATO allies are party to the conflict,' NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on February 14.
NATO had no immediate comment on Fico's remarks.
Asked about the comments, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said: 'The Czech Republic certainly is not preparing to send any soldiers to Ukraine, nobody has to worry about that.'
Fico said he saw a risk of a large escalation of the conflict in Ukraine, and that more information could not be revealed to the public.
Some 20 European leaders, including Fico, are gathering in Paris today to send Putin a message of European resolve on Ukraine and counter the Kremlin's narrative that Russia is bound to win a war now entering its third year, France said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has invited European leaders to the Elysee Palace for a working meeting announced at short notice because of what his advisers say is an escalation in Russian aggression over the past few weeks.
Fico said calling the meeting showed the West's strategy on Ukraine had failed. He said he was going to take part in a constructive spirit although the material for discussions sent 'shivers down his spine'.
This comes as Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Monday that 'no compromise' was possible with his Hungarian and Slovak counterparts if they decline to openly support Ukraine facing Russia's invasion.
Tusk will meet Czech, Hungarian and Slovak premiers Petr Fiala, Viktor Orban and Robert Fico in Prague on Tuesday at a meeting in the so-called Visegrad group.
Support for Ukraine has sown division among the four-nation group of Central European nations - all NATO and European Union members - as Orban and Fico have criticised military support for Ukraine.
Orban blocked a 50 billion euro EU aid package for months while Fico has refused to provide military aid to war-ravaged Ukraine, questioning its sovereignty and calling for peace with Russia.
'If you are a NATO and EU member, by definition and by the very nature of this membership you have to support Ukraine in its defence against the Russian invasion,' Tusk told reporters.
'If someone fails to understand this, and I will say this openly in Prague tomorrow, they place themselves ... outside our communities, and there is no compromise to be made on this,' he told reporters.
Tusk said he would say this to Orban 'in the eyes' when they meet in Prague, and added he was 'stunned' by Fico's recent statements on Ukraine.
'It won't be a pleasant or simple encounter,' Tusk said after meeting Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau in Warsaw. Tusk added that the meeting would be a 'test' of the Visegrad group.
He said that upon his return home, he would say 'openly' if the four-country club still has a reason to exist.
The Visegrad group was founded in 1991, two years after the four countries had ended four decades of Soviet-led communist rule.
Given the historic experience with Moscow-led communist rule, 'it is a paradox that Budapest and Bratislava send out these ambiguous signals concerning (President Vladimir) Putin and Russia these days', added Tusk.
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Originally Posted by Skylight
