Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico arrived in China on Tuesday morning, where he will stay for three days: on Wednesday he will participate in the Tiananmen Square military parade in Beijing, and the next day he will hold bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

On Tuesday, the Slovak Prime Minister also held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has also been in China since Sunday. Fico and Putin praised the relations between the two countries, talked about developing their cooperation, and Ukraine was also discussed.

Robert Fico continues to count on Russian energy

According to a report by the Slovak Parameter, Fico said during the hearing that Slovakia would not voluntarily give up Russian energy and that they still have a need for gas and oil from there.

– however, since the proposal, dubbed RePower EU, is not a sanction, its adoption does not require a unanimous decision by the member states, so even though the proposal is opposed by Slovakia and Hungary, its adoption could be prevented if other member states joined them.

The Slovak Prime Minister also told Putin that Slovakia would develop and deepen its relations with Russia, for example, due to the new nuclear power plant planned in Jaslovské Bohunice, despite the fact that its construction was originally awarded to an American company. Fico said that he would be happy for Russian-American cooperation in implementing the project, and that he would raise this issue with the American side.

Vladimir Putin: Russia has never attacked anyone

The Russian president first also praised the relationship between the two countries, and then expressed his hope that Russian-Slovak economic cooperation would continue in the future.

Putin said that independent Slovak foreign policy has brought positive results, primarily in the economy and trade. He recalled that some Slovak companies are still active in Russia, and promised Fico that Russia will remain a reliable energy supplier.

Putin: We did not attack anyone

The two leaders also talked about Ukraine, agreeing that the country attacked by Russia cannot join NATO, but Putin is not opposed to Kiev joining the European Union - Fico also stated that he has been advocating from the beginning that Ukraine cannot become a NATO member, but is ready to cooperate with Kiev regarding EU accession.

Vladimir Putin has repeated his previously false claim that the conflict in Ukraine was provoked by the West, and he also considers claims that Russia would attack Ukraine to be nonsense and a provocation.

There is a constant hysteria about Russia's alleged plans to attack Europe. I think it is clear to reasonable people: this is either a provocation or a complete lack of competence. Every reasonable person is aware that Russia has never attacked, did not want to attack, and does not want to attack anyone

– the Russian president said, according to the Russian news agency TASS, who once again emphasized that these allegations have no basis in his opinion. Putin did not mention that since coming to power he has launched wars against other countries several times: in 2008 he attacked Georgia, in 2022 Ukraine, but Russian soldiers have also been deployed in Syria, while mercenaries from the Wagner Group, which is connected to the Russian chain of command and officially independent of the Kremlin, are still present in several African countries to this day.

As we wrote above, the Slovak president will be in China for three days: in addition to the military parade, he will also hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vice President Zhang Zhi, and upon returning to Europe, he is also scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Vladimir Putin arrived in China on Sunday when he attended this year's Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, but like Fico, he will also watch the military parade in Beijing from the stands and will also hold face-to-face talks with his Chinese counterpart.