Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico arrived in Moscow on May 9 to celebrate Victory Day, commemorating the 80th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.
Slovak and Russian press agencies reported that Fico was accompanied by other politicians from his party, including Erik Kaliniak, Lubos Blaga, Richard Gluck. A deputy from the far-right Slovak National Party, Miroslav Radachovsky, was also a part of the group.
During his visit, Fico is expected to hold bilateral talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and a government representative of Vietnam.
Fico, who anticipated arriving in Moscow on May 8, was delayed in his arrival, following the Baltic states' decision to bar Slovakia's government plane from flying over their respective country's airspace en route to Moscow.
"Estonia informed us a couple of minutes ago that it will not allow us to fly over its territory," Fico wrote on Facebook. "Of course, we are talking about a deliberate attempt to disrupt my visit to Moscow on the occasion of the official celebration of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II."
The Kremlin uses the annual victory celebrations for propaganda purposes and to showcase its military might, while Russian propaganda leans heavily on the Soviet victory in World War II.
Fico is known for inflammatory statements on Ukraine and the war that often echo Moscow's talking points. He has repeatedly criticized military aid for Ukraine and called for restoring relations with Russia after the war.
Fico's planned visit comes as another jab at the Western efforts to internationally isolate Putin over Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine. Slovakia is a member state of both NATO and the EU.
Volodymyr Ivanyshyn
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