Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia was open to Slovakia’s proposal to hold peace talks with Ukraine to end the conflict, which he said Russia was determined to bring to an end.
Putin, who received Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico at the Kremlin this week, said that Fico, a staunch opponent of the European Union’s support for Ukraine, had offered his country to host talks between Russia and Ukraine.
Putin said the Slovak authorities would “be happy to provide their own country as a platform for negotiations.” We are not against it if that happens. Why not? Since Slovakia has such a neutral position.”
Get national news daily
Receive the most important news as well as headlines from politics, business and current affairs in your inbox once a day.
Slovakia is part of a growing camp of central and eastern European EU member states skeptical of support for Ukraine and supportive of negotiations with Russia.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly criticized Slovakia, which borders Ukraine, for the friendly tone Fico has taken toward Russia since returning to power after a 2023 election.
Putin has repeatedly said that Russia is ready for talks to end the conflict with Kiev but will still achieve its goals in Ukraine.
Putin said on Thursday that Russia could deploy the new medium-range hypersonic missile called Oreshnik again but was in no hurry to do so.
“We do not exclude the possibility of using it today and, if necessary, tomorrow,” Putin said.
If necessary, Putin said, Russia could use more powerful medium-range weapons.
