Fico, like Orban, has fallen into populism trap — international expert Tuzhanskyi

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV 

"We should look at Robert Fico's visit to Ukraine a little deeper than these media scandals, because clearly Fico himself did not want them. It's not because Fico is not a pro-Ukrainian politician, or that he was misunderstood. It's just that Fico, like Orban, fell into the populism trap. For Fico, the core of his voters are marginalized and out-of-system citizens who believe in conspiracy theories and therefore need to be fed something. In the case of Robert Fico, it's about Nazis in Kyiv who killed Russians in 2014, or that the war was provoked by the United States," Tuzhanskyi explained.

The expert emphasized that Fico's visit to Ukraine is aimed at improving his position in the EU

"This is only the third foreign visit for Fico. First he went to Prague, then to Budapest, which is his ideological partner. After all, today Bratislava and Budapest are preparing for the fact that the EU will block either their funds or their right to vote. Now Fico is in Ukraine. He needs to show not so much support for Ukraine as to show the EU that it is not hopeless," he added.

• On January 22, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said that the only way to end Russia's war against Ukraine is to give up the temporarily occupied territories.
• "There must be some kind of compromise. Why do they expect the Russians to leave Crimea, Donbas and Luhansk? It's unrealistic," Fico said.
• Earlier, the head of the Slovak government also said that financial support for Ukraine makes no sense because the war "has no military solution."
• On Wednesday, January 24, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico arrived in Uzhhorod and has already met with his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal.