Yerevan: a shift from "No cheap gestures" to "we'll try for Bratislava"
The Slovak prime minister flew into the Armenian capital on Monday morning ahead of the European Political Community (EPC) summit. The bilateral meeting with Zelensky took place on the sidelines of the conference and was announced first by the Ukrainian president himself on X: "We discussed cooperation in various areas and the upcoming joint government session in the format of an intergovernmental commission." Kyiv Independent ↗ aktuality.sk ↗As recently as Saturday, after a phone call with Zelensky, Fico claimed he would go directly to Kyiv. On Monday he reversed this position. "It seemed to me that President Zelensky was fairly flexible. We'll try to organize a meeting in Bratislava. I have no reason to make cheap gestures," he told Slovak journalists. The prime minister also promised at the same briefing that the joint government session would take place "by the end of June" — no official Ukrainian source has yet confirmed this part, so for now it remains Fico's projection. Fico also admitted: "Volodymyr Zelensky and I don't exactly love each other, but on the other hand we are neighbors." novinky.cz ↗
In Yerevan, the Slovak prime minister once again publicly supported Ukraine's EU accession — on condition that the candidate country meets all criteria. Military aid, however, remains off the table: "Slovakia will not support any military loans or send weapons for free. Whoever wants weapons can buy them." novinky.cz ↗
Moscow: bilateral meeting at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, corridor via Czechia
In Moscow, Fico will attend Russia's Victory Day celebrations on Saturday, May 9. "I will go to Moscow, lay flowers at the tomb of the unknown soldier of the Red Army, and I am to have a brief meeting with President Putin. I am not attending any military parade," he confirmed in Yerevan. The meeting with Putin is a new element — in the April announcement, Fico had spoken only of a commemorative act in Alexander Garden by the Kremlin, framing the visit as a "pilgrimage for peace" with stops in Munich and the Dachau concentration camp. Standard.sk ↗ iROZHLAS ↗Also read: No tanks on Red Square: Putin scales back Victory Day for the first time since 2008. Fico is flying in, but will skip the parade
Meanwhile, the route of Fico's flight has become clearer. Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia banned the government special flight from overflying their territory. Poland granted permission on Monday, April 28 — following a meeting with Prime Minister Donald Tusk. And on May 1, another green light was added: a spokesperson for the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Adam Corgo, confirmed to the newspaper Novinky that "the Slovak side submitted a standard request for overflight permission and it was issued without undue delay." He described claims by Russian media that Prague had banned the flight as untrue. Kyiv Independent ↗ pravda.sk ↗
Bratislava: Danko's ultimatum and the 90-billion loan
While Fico signaled a shift in relations with Zelensky in Yerevan, at home SNS chairman Andrej Danko is escalating the pressure. The leader of the coalition SNS party criticized the prime minister over the weekend and on Monday repeated his demand for a written guarantee from Fico that Slovakia will not vote for Ukraine's EU accession. "SNS cannot agree with the statements of some coalition partners who suggest they will support Ukraine's membership in the Union," Danko said, according to hnonline.sk. hnonline.sk ↗ aktuality.sk ↗The dispute spilled into the public arena over the weekend when part of the coalition's voices split over their stance on the so-called 90-billion military loan for Ukraine — proposed by the European Commission at the summit in Cyprus on April 23. In response, the Slovak government office published a statement in which Fico rejected any claims of Slovak participation in this loan and emphasized that his position on EU enlargement is "long-term consistent and tied to candidate countries complying with the rules." aktuality.sk ↗
In Yerevan, Fico also repeated another recurring claim: that there are allegedly "tens of thousands of paid soldiers" in Ukraine who could pose a security risk once the war ends. HotInfo found no confirmation of this claim in available databases of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) or in major international sources monitoring the conflict; the same claim is repeatedly voiced by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. novinky.cz ↗
"The USA is keeping its hands off Europe": Carney as a bridge to Europe
A prominent theme in Fico's statements was criticism of the USA. The Slovak prime minister declared in Yerevan that "the USA is keeping its hands off Europe" and that the Union "must protect itself." Fico interpreted the presence of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the summit in the Armenian capital as a signal of Canada and the EU drawing closer, and also pointed to the outspoken rhetoric of French President Emmanuel Macron. hnonline.sk ↗ SITA ↗At the same time, Fico rejected the notion that Slovakia should simply replace its dependence on Russian energy with dependence on American energy. "We are not prepared to tie ourselves to a second monopoly supplier," he told Slovak journalists in Yerevan. SITA ↗
Fico's rhetoric came against the backdrop of a fresh transatlantic signal: according to the Washington Post, the Pentagon announced on Friday, May 1, that it was withdrawing 5,000 American troops from Germany, a step Donald Trump publicly confirmed over the weekend. Reactions filled German media from the weekend onward — Die Zeit, Spiegel, and Süddeutsche spent three days analyzing the impact on Ramstein and Rhineland-Palatinate, while Britain's Guardian wrote that "even Republicans expressed concerns." EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the timing of the move a surprise, and the Czech newspaper Forum24 framed it in its headline as a "warning signal for European defense." forum24.cz ↗ hnonline.sk ↗
On Saturday, Fico faces Putin's Red Square — without tanks, but with the first confirmed meeting with the Russian president. In Bratislava, he must align SNS with the rhetoric about Ukraine's European future that he has just publicly reaffirmed to Zelensky. The same Carney whom Fico praised in Yerevan is, at the same time, the leader of a country that, according to the Canadian government, has provided Ukraine with more than 8.5 billion Canadian dollars in military aid since 2022. Government of Canada ↗
