Slovak president announces suspension of military aid to Ukraine, her advisor explains decision

This is reported by Dennik N.

The journalists learned that the Slovak Defense Ministry is considering the possibility of providing Ukraine with another military aid package.

It could have been delivered during the presidency of the technocratic government of Ľudovít Ódor, but President Zuzana Čaputová, who is politically responsible for the cabinet, is against such a plan.

In a comment to Dennik N, Čaputová's spokesman, Martin Stryzhynets, explained that she was "respecting the results of the democratic elections", the winner of which, Smer-SD, promised voters "not to give Ukraine a single bullet".

The Slovakian president believes that ignoring this position of the Smer-SD and "some other" parties "would set an unfortunate precedent for the future."

On October 5, Jana Kobzová, Foreign Policy Advisor to the Slovak President, explained in a comment to a Ukrainian publication that the current outgoing government has limited powers, and the new government, which is in the process of being formed, is against providing aid to Ukraine. In this regard, the adoption of the aid package would set a risky precedent.

"President Čaputová is consulting with all political leaders on the formation of the future government and will continue to support the provision of military assistance to Ukraine by any government that has full powers," she said.

She noted that Slovakia has already provided significant assistance to Ukraine.

"President Čaputová has been a strong supporter of this assistance from the very beginning and has been in touch with the government to support it, including after President Zelenskyy's recent visit to Slovakia in July," Kobzova concluded.

Ukraine's response

NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov spoke of the "enormous influence of Russian agents."

"Keep in mind that the influence of Russian agents in Slovakia is simply enormous. At first they were in Prague, and then, given that they were chased around a bit, they moved to Bratislava. And what we see today is the influence of the Russian Federation, which is trying to inflame the situation in Europe," he said during the telethon.

What is known about the elections in Slovakia

On April 9, law enforcement officials in Slovakia closed a criminal case against Robert Fico for publishing a video of the transfer of the S-300 air defense system to Ukraine.

Later, Robert Fico said he wanted to cancel military and political support for Ukraine.

On September 30, parliamentary elections were held in Slovakia, where Robert Fico's pro-Russian Smer party became one of the leading parties.

According to the results from almost all polling stations counted as of the morning of October 1, Robert Fico's Smer party is winning the Slovak parliamentary elections.

On October 2, after Robert Fico's victory in the parliamentary elections, he initiated peace talks on Ukraine.

The Slovak Foreign Ministry accused Russia of interfering in the parliamentary elections and summoned a Russian embassy official after Russia's remarks about the "American footprint" in the country.