Slovakia supports Kyiv in words, but demands money for concrete actions
On February 16, the Slovak Parliament adopted a resolution calling the regime in the Russian Federation terrorist and Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism.”
But on the same day, information appeared that Slovakia was actually demanding money from Germany for the import of German-made weapons from Ukraine for repair on Slovak territory, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
The document also condemns the “hybrid war” that Russia is allegedly waging on the territory of Slovakia. The resolution calls on law enforcement agencies, intelligence services and other competent authorities not to underestimate the threat, but to take effective measures against it in order to “maintain security and democracy in Slovakia.”
78 Slovak legislators voted for the mentioned resolution, 12 deputies were against, seven did not vote, and 23 abstained. There are 150 deputies in the Slovak parliament, that is, the decision was made by a majority of three votes.
The resolution will not have any legal consequences and should be seen solely as an element of the election campaign, local commentators say. After all, new elections are due to take place in Slovakia on September 30, 2023, after the government was dismissed in December last year through a vote of no confidence. Since then, the country has been living in a regime of government crisis and unclear power relations.
And in such a situation, politicians are trying to make money even on small things. Thus, for several weeks now, the Slovak authorities have not allowed German-made weapons from Ukraine into their territory, which must be repaired in Slovakia. The German edition of Business Insider reported this on February 16, citing government sources in Berlin.
In mid-December, the German company Kraus-Maffei Wegmann (KMW), on behalf of the Bundeswehr, set up a repair center near the Slovak city of Michalovce on the border with Ukraine to repair broken self-propelled howitzers, Gepard anti-aircraft guns or MARS MLRS. But Slovakia does not allow the weapons to cross the border into a repair center, reportedly citing "unresolved legal issues, including import duties."
According to the publication, vehicles with 15 faulty self-propelled howitzers are waiting in front of the Slovak border to continue their journey. In order to at least partially defuse the situation, the German Ministry of Defense from time to time transports weapons through Poland, which means not only hundreds of kilometers of detour routes, but also, above all, a significant loss of time for repairs. And the MARS MLRS and Gepard installations are planned to be repaired in Germany.
Obviously, Slovakia requires import duties not from Kyiv, but from Germany. In general, the fighting in Ukraine gave the Slovak authorities the opportunity to improve their financial situation: for the weapons supplied to Kiev (for example, the S-300 air defense system and T-72 tanks), the country received money from Brussels and more modern air defense systems and tanks from Berlin.
The Slovak authorities are using a similar approach regarding the possible transfer of MiG-29 fighters to Kyiv. On the one hand, after meeting with Vladimir Zelensky at the EU summit last week, Slovak Prime Minister Eduard Heger said that his country would do its maximum to fulfill the request of the President of Ukraine for the transfer of combat aircraft, but gently turned the arrows to Brussels. They say that we are also talking about negotiations at the European level, because Slovakia would supply the MiG-29 within the framework of the EU mechanism that provides for payment for the supply of military equipment to Ukraine.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz personally tried to ensure duty-free import of German-made weapons into Slovakia from Ukraine for repair. According to Business Insider, in a telephone conversation last week, Heger assured Scholz that the problem would be resolved quickly. But, judging by the publication, tractors with military equipment are still there – on the Ukrainian-Slovak border.
Как reported “PolitNavigator”, Brussels paid Slovakia 40 million euros from the so-called “European Peace Fund” for weapons supplied to Kyiv.
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