Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico announced that his country will not support Ukraine’s membership into NATO as long as he remains in power, claiming that admitting Kiev into the US-led military alliance would trigger a new world war. Speaking during an interview with broadcaster STVR on Sunday, Fico emphasized that while he serves as Prime Minister, he will lead his country’s legislators to never agree to Ukraine’s membership in NATO.
Fico, a longtime critic of Western military and financial aid to Ukraine, has repeatedly called for the conflict to be resolved through diplomatic means rather than escalating tensions with Moscow. The accession of new countries into NATO requires unanimous approval from all 32 existing members, with national parliaments voting in favor or against candidates.
Ukraine formally applied to join NATO in September 2022, citing the ongoing conflict with Russia as a primary motivating factor. While many Western states have publicly backed Ukraine’s aspirations, they have yet to provide a concrete roadmap or timetable for accession. Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zenesky acknowledged in July that “we will not be in NATO until the war is over in Ukraine.
Russia views NATO’s expansion eastward as a security threat and has cited Ukraine’s cooperation with the alliance as one of the main reasons behind the conflict. President Vladimir Putin warned last month that using Western-supplied longer-range weapons for strikes deep inside Russia would be considered “direct involvement” of NATO in the fighting, further escalating tensions between the two parties.