Robert Fico, the new prime minister in Slovakia, announced last week that his country will stop sending military aid to Kyiv but did not comment if his nation, which borders Ukraine, will continue to allow train shipments of supplies into its neighbor. 

The New York Times reported that Russia seemed to shrug off the announcement and said it was “not really that big, and, therefore, this decision will barely affect the whole process.”

Politico noted that Slovakia has sent several arms packages to Kyiv, including old fighter jets and an S-300 air defense system. 

Fico addressed his parliament and said he believed the best path forward for the EU was to take on the role of peacemaker, not arms supplier.

“We see aid to Ukraine solely as humanitarian and civilian aid, and we will no longer supply Ukraine with arms,” Euronews reported. He continued, “The war in Ukraine is not ours, we have nothing to do with it.”

The report also noted that Fico, who heads the country’s leftist-populist Smer party, said Bratislava will not back any new sanctions against Russia until it considers the impact on Slovakia. 

“If such sanctions are going to harm us, as is the case with most sanctions, I see no reason to support them,” he said. 

TRENDPOST: It should be noted that Fico made good on his campaign promise to end military support for Ukraine, which the warmongering West identified as a pro-Russian platform. His campaign slogan was, “Not a single round.” (See “SLOVAKIA VOTES FOR PM WHO WANTS TO END SUPPORT FOR UKRAINE” 3 Oct 2023.)

Fico told reporters after his victory that he would work to bring peace to Ukraine because “more killing is not going to help anyone.”

Branislav Kovacik, a Slovak political scientist, said the move will not impact Ukraine’s ability to carry out its war with Russia and was seen as largely symbolic. 

Fico said Slovakia has enough problems. A week before the election the migrant crisis was “outrageous and unacceptable.” (See “SPOTLIGHT: MIGRANT MELTDOWN. CRISIS GIVES RISE TO POPULIST MOVEMENT IN EU” 10 Oct 2023.)

Slovakia has been slammed with a major jump in migrants traveling into the country from northern Africa, Afghanistan, and Syria. The AP, citing data from Bratislava, reported that the country registered 39,688 migrants from January to 1 October, which represents an 11-fold increase from 2022. (The border police detained 17,529 foreigners in the first seven months of this year, according to Balkan Insight, which is an increase of 15,611 from the same time period in 2022.)

As we have forecast for well over a decade, as a result of a refugee crisis, there will be growing populist movements among European and North American nations. And with the outbreak of the COVID War—we had forecast anti-vax, anti-lockdown, anti-tax, anti-immigration, and anti-establishment political parties will grow stronger as economies decline and nations are unable and unwilling to take in refugees that are fleeing their nations.