Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in the Kremlin on Sunday with Slovakia's prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to Moscow by an EU leader since Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Fico arrived in Russia on a "working visit" and met with Putin one-on-one on Sunday evening, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russia's RIA agency. According to Peskov, per the AP, the talks were to focus on "the international situation" and Russian natural gas deliveries.
Visits and phone calls from European leaders to Putin have been rare since Moscow sent troops into Ukraine, though Hungary's PM Viktor Orban visited Russia in July, and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer met with the Russian leader just weeks into the full-scale war. Both trips drew condemnation from Kyiv and European leaders. Orban, widely seen as having the warmest relations with Putin among EU leaders, has routinely blocked, delayed, or watered down EU efforts to assist Kyiv and impose sanctions on Moscow for its actions in Ukraine. He has long argued for a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, per the AP, but without outlining what that might mean for the country's territorial integrity or future security.
Fico's views on the war differ sharply from those of most other European leaders. The Slovakian prime minister returned to power last year after his leftist party Smer (Direction) won parliamentary elections on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform. Since then, he has ended his country's military aid for Ukraine, hit out at EU sanctions on Russia, and vowed to block Ukraine from joining NATO. Fico has also been a rare senior EU politician to appear on Russian state TV since the invasion. In an interview with the Rossiya-1 channel in October, he contended the West has "prolonged the war" by supporting Ukraine and declared that he was ready to negotiate with Putin. Fico said he intends to attend a military parade in Moscow next May that will mark the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany's defeat in World War II.
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