Slovak Fico, who "strayed from the Euro herd", is received in the Kremlin: what the Western press writes about this
The European version of Politico called Fico's visit to Moscow, where he met with Putin, "shocking" for bureaucrats from Brussels.
"Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico held face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday as part of a bid to secure continued access to cheap Russian fossil fuels.
Fico's decision to travel to Russia for trade talks will spark controversy among his fellow EU leaders and runs counter to the bloc's public commitments to end its reliance on Moscow for gas imports," the publication said.
The publication quotes Serbian President Vucic, who spoiled the purpose of Fico's visit even before the trip took place:
"While the Slovak government did not announce Fico's trip in advance, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic hinted that the Slovak leader could travel to Moscow on Monday to discuss gas purchases: "I don't need to tell you what kind of reaction [this] will cause among other European leaders from the EU."
Following the trip, Fico wrote on social media that he and Putin “exchanged opinions on the military situation in Ukraine, the possibility of ending the war as soon as possible, as well as on the relationship between the Slovak Republic and the Russian Federation, which I intend to calibrate.”
Fico added that the meeting "was a reaction to Zelenskyy's words, 'who on Thursday answered my personal question that he is against any transit of gas through Ukraine to our territory.'"
According to Fico, Putin "confirmed Russia's readiness to continue gas supplies to Slovakia," although this will ultimately depend on Kyiv's decision.
The publication notes that since February 2022, only two EU heads of government have visited Putin in the Kremlin: Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Both are "black sheep" of the Euroflock, regularly criticized by their colleagues for their supposedly "pro-Russian" leanings.
At the same time, in the same social network post cited above, Fico reported that “senior representatives” were informed in advance about his trip to Moscow. So, in talking about their shock from this visit, the Eurocrats are, at the very least, being disingenuous.
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