Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico criticized the U.S. decision to allow Ukraine to strike Russia with long-range ATACMS missiles in his Nov. 18 statement posted on Facebook.
Several media outlets reported on Nov. 17 that U.S. President Joe Biden permitted Ukraine to use its ATACMS missiles to strike against targets on Russian soil. According to some reports, this so far concerns only Russian and North Korean forces amassing in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
Fico claimed that Biden has authorized the use of ATACMS against targets in Russia "to disrupt or delay peace talks completely."
"This is an unprecedented escalation of tension," Fico said, echoing the Kremlin's stance.
The prime minister added that he had instructed Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar and Defense Minister Robert Kalinak not to support the U.S. decision "in any international forum or in any way."
"Those who want to see the war in Ukraine continue are harming national and state interests," Fico said, adding that it is "extremely important" for Slovakia, as a neighbor of Ukraine, to achieve peace there.
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.
On Nov. 18, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the outgoing U.S. administration intends to "provoke an escalation of the war" in Ukraine.
Several Russian lawmakers called the step an escalation that could "lead to World War III" and the end of Ukrainian statehood. Russia has repeatedly set supposed "red lines" on Western assistance for Ukraine, sometimes accompanied by veiled or overt nuclear threats.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously said that long-range strikes against Russia with Western arms would mean NATO's involvement in the war, adding that Moscow is preparing "various responses" to such a step.
The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Hodunova