Fico appeared on Wednesday on the state-owned Russia-1 channel’s ‘60 Minutes’ show, widely regarded as a Kremlin voice-box. Host Olga Skabeyeva touted him as the first leader of an EU and NATO country to appear on the program.
The Slovakian prime minister has a reputation in Europe for his pro-Russia rhetoric, while he has also questioned the merits of EU sanctions on Russia and called for peace.
In his appearance on the show, he echoed a Russian narrative that a peace deal had been on the table in Ankara shortly after the start of the war but that it had been blocked by the U.K.’s prime minister at the time, Boris Johnson.
“It is very clear today that in April 2022 there were real agreements on the table that could have ended the war immediately,” Czech news site Idnes.cz quoted Fico as saying. “But someone came and said: No, no, no, no, you can't sign it."
The Slovakian prime minister argued that the European Union had “taken advantage” of the war to impose sanctions in a bid to “humiliate” Moscow, but to no avail.
“In 2022, when the conflict broke out, we thought: aha, we will take advantage of this and bring Russia to its knees, humiliate it,” Idnes.cz quoted him as saying. “But this strategy did not work.
“And that's why I've been saying from day one: for God's sake, let's push Russia, Ukraine and the United States to come to the negotiating table," he continued.
He said he considered it his “duty” to visit Russia to commemorate the end of World War II and victory over fascism.
The anniversary of victory in Europe over the Nazis is celebrated on May 9.
Fico said Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, has no interest in peace and that the word is taboo in Brussels.
“In Europe, the word peace has completely ceased to be used,” he said. “The word peace does not exist. If someone talks about peace, he is considered a warmonger. And whoever talks about war is seen as a fighter for peace. Everything is the other way around."
Fico also rejected Ukraine's accession to NATO, which he said is the priority of Zelenskyy’s ‘Victory Plan.’ He said Ukraine needed security guarantees rather than NATO membership.
“I do not believe that NATO membership will be a security guarantee for Ukraine," he said.
