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According to Prague, one of the reasons is the meeting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Juraj Blanár (Smer) with the head of Russian diplomacy Sergey Lavrov.
Prime Minister Robert Fico reacted to the move of Fiala’s government. Among other things, he stated on the social network that his government will never expose the deep Slovak-Czech relations to any threat.
According to him, the decision from the Czech Republic will not affect the “sovereign Slovak foreign policy”.
“We note that the Czech government has decided to threaten them only because it is interested in supporting the war in Ukraine, while the Slovak government openly talks about peace,” said Fico.
Diplomatic language
“Joint consultations between governments express an above-standard level of relations between cabinets. If the Czech side does not organize them now, it will maintain normal cooperation between ministries and return relations to a standard level,” commented the former Czech ambassador to the USA, Michael Žantovský.
He claims that many people today, including politicians, do not understand diplomatic language. Petar Fiala considers the reaction of Fiala’s government adequate.
“We should not approach the easily confrontational reaction of Prime Minister Robert Fico, who says that our relations are deeply damaged by this. They are not, they just returned to the standard level,” added Žantovský.
Fiala: Slovakia is still a brotherly country
After the words of Fico, Prime Minister Fiala stated on the CNN Prima News station that Slovakia is still a brother and sister country for the Czech Republic.
“We are historically connected, we are close to each other. But the truth is that the current Slovak government has a diametrically different position on the key issue. We think that this position is not compatible with the point of view of the Western world and that it kind of appeals to the interests of Vladimir Putin,” said Fiala in the broadcast.
The television reminded that the Slovak Prime Minister declared on the occasion of the second anniversary of the outbreak of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that “the war started already in 2014 with the antics of Ukrainian neo-Nazis”. At the same time, he claimed that during the conflict “Slavs are being killed and the West is watching.”
2 photos in the gallery of Juraj Blanár and Sergej Lavrov at a meeting in Turkey. Source: FB/Russian Foreign Ministry
The words of the head of Czech diplomacy
“There were more of those last drops. We make it clear that we stand on the side of the West. Robert Fico sees it completely differently,” continued Fiala.
The head of Czech diplomacy, Jan Lipavský, also commented on Blanár’s meeting with Lavrov. Hungarian Minister Péter Szijjártó also met with the Russian partner during the conference in Turkey.
“Our partners, literally on the other side of the globe and at the other end of the world, understand that the security of Europe affects the security of the whole world. That’s why I’m sorry that my colleagues in Slovakia don’t see it exactly the same,” said Lipavský, according to iDnes.cz.
Criticism from Poland
The cancellation of the Czech-Slovak consultations from Prague came just a few days after the critical words of Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to Slovakia.
According to the head of the Polish government, Blanár’s meeting with Lavrov was a confirmation that “our paths have diverged quite a bit on some issues.”
“Fortunately, there is no reason to believe that there are any differences in Polish-Lithuanian relations in the northeastern region,” Tusk did not hesitate to add.
“Today, the center of gravity in terms of Europe’s security has shifted significantly to the north. This “Nordic plus” format with Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway as a de facto European partner that is not a member of the European Union and Poland, as well as with the active participation of Denmark, in some steps also Great Britain – all this shows that it is possible to build large, effective political blocs that will speak with one voice and act in exactly the same direction in geopolitical matters, and above all in connection with Russia’s aggression against Ukraine,” he declared a few days ago at a joint press conference with the Lithuanian Prime Minister.
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