Rubio Meets Pro-Trump EU Leader Robert Fico After Munich Clash With European Allies

Thank you for the question, my colleague. I have a great advantage, because I don't have to think about what I will say, what answer I will give, because I will say the same thing I have been saying all along from the very beginning. And the Minister of Foreign Affairs could certainly confirm what I said today. The European Union, or some member states of the Union, are in a trap, and that trap is that we are facing an unprecedented crisis of the European Union in terms of competitiveness. We really have a problem. The European Union is in a deep economic crisis, and unless we admit that we adopted nonsensical ideological, climate goals, we will never get out of this crisis. And in this situation, my colleague, it is very difficult for some member states to say, 'We made a mistake in the war on Ukraine.' The strategy was very clear. Already in April, three months after the start of the war, a draft agreement was on the table in Istanbul that could have ended the war, and some Western politicians, primarily from Europe, came and said, 'You must not do this,' because they thought that through this strategy of war — supporting Ukraine, sanctions, loans — Russia would weaken economically and politically. Today we all know that this strategy does not work, but the countries that supported this strategy from the very beginning do not have the courage to admit it and say, 'Enough.' Mr. Editor, we talked about the numbers, how many real victims there are in this war. Those numbers vary, they are this way and they are that way. The fact is this: take a pen and paper and write it down, and when we meet here at the end of this year, I will confront you with it. The European Union is now providing a loan of 90 billion euros for Ukraine. Of that, please correct me, 60 billion for weapons and 30 billion is to go for the functioning of Ukraine as such. I am proud that at the European Council I refused to participate in this military loan. Do you know what will happen? In December we will all be counting another 100,000 dead on the Russian side and on the Ukrainian side. And the only result will be that Russia will be deeper in Ukrainian territory. What is this whole strategy about? So I am not changing my opinion. I am convinced that the war is nonsensical, that the conflict in Ukraine has no military solution. It has no military solution. If this conflict continues without any interest in talking, the result will be only hundreds of thousands of dead people and a stronger position of the Russian Federation. My colleague, the 20th sanctions package is being prepared now. How many sanctions packages are needed to stop the advance of the Russian army? Should there be 100, 150? I believe that just as we invented 20 sanctions packages, we should have invented 20 peace initiatives in the European Union. The European Union should have devoted all its effort, all its energy. There are nearly 500 million of us. We are still economically quite strong, although we have a crisis. And we should have persuaded the warring parties, both Russia and Ukraine: 'Stop this, stop it. Let's find a solution that will be acceptable to both sides.' So I haven't said anything new. I repeat my position from the very beginning, which is different. Not all partners in the European Union agree with me, but I think it is the role of a politician who considers himself sovereign to express sovereign opinions, if he is genuinely convinced of them.

Thank you very much. Last question. Bloomberg.

Mr. Editor, I will allow myself to combine both of your questions and answer them at once, with one answer. When countries are at war, as is the case with Ukraine, nothing else is considered. Propaganda is used from one side and from the other side. And just as Ukraine accuses the Russian Federation of misusing energy, such as oil and gas, for political purposes, so the other side in turn accuses Ukraine of doing the same. Mr. Editor, we regularly pulled gas through Slovakia that went through Ukraine to Slovakia and on to Western Europe, and we earned money on transit fees of around 500 million euros per year. Ukraine, by transiting Russian gas to Europe, earned around 800 to 900 million euros per year in transit fees. And then came an ideological decision: Russian gas will not be pulled through Ukraine. That means it will not be pulled through Slovakia either. Probably Ukraine does not miss that billion, because they receive enormous revenues, enormous loans. Those are hundreds of millions, those are billions. Those are simply sums of money that we cannot even imagine. Under these conditions, I want to say that Slovakia is behaving very responsibly. We could have been offended. And we could have adopted retaliatory measures against Ukraine. But in Ukraine we do not see President Zelensky, we do not see politicians. I see there children, women, and families who need to survive a harsh winter. And that is why we decided that, despite what Zelensky did to us — robbing us of 500 million euros per year — we are supplying Ukraine with electricity. These are so-called special electricity shipments, when their energy system fails. And we are supplying them, whether you believe it or not, with gas as well, even though it no longer flows from east to west. You are also asking about oil, so I want to say that there is a decision called Repower EU, which as of November 1, 2027 stops any transit, any transit of Russian gas into Europe, which will cause us enormous difficulties. Enormous difficulties. I don't want to explain it here now, but as a country that used to be at the beginning of the pipeline, we are now at the end of the pipeline. We do not have ports with LNG terminals available. That complicates our situation enormously. And we talked about this with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I think that in the post-war settlement of Ukraine, we need to seriously discuss the ownership of the pipeline that runs through Ukraine, so that it does not continue to be used as a tool for blackmailing individual countries. Now to the oil and to the situation as it stands at this moment. Ukraine is seeking membership in the European Union. There are countries that do not tell Ukraine the truth, and there are countries that do tell Ukraine the truth. Hungary has long been absolutely fair towards Ukraine when it says that it will not agree to Ukraine's membership in the European Union. We in Slovakia say that Ukraine can join the European Union on the condition that it fulfills all the necessary requirements. We cannot deceive Serbia now, we cannot deceive Montenegro, we cannot deceive Albania. These countries are a hundred times better prepared to join the European Union than Ukraine is. I don't know, Mr. Editor, who bombed the oil infrastructure in Ukraine. I don't believe either side. I will only believe what I see with my own eyes. There have already been so many lies from both sides that I don't have the courage to say who bombed or destroyed part of the oil infrastructure. We have information that it should already be repaired. I just think that once again, oil supplies from Ukraine towards Hungary and Slovakia have become the subject of political blackmail and pressure on us, especially on Hungary. So, Hungary's agreement to Ukraine's membership in the European Union — perhaps oil supplies will follow. I think we will have a meeting about this tomorrow. At the moment, supplies are working, everything as regards products from Slovnaft, from the refinery. Here in Slovakia we are negotiating with the management of this refinery. Let us adopt all the necessary measures. I think that Slovnaft is also behaving very responsibly on this issue, but what is happening today around oil, I perceive as political blackmail towards Hungary because of Hungary's uncompromising stance on Ukraine's membership in the European Union. I am very open and direct and I do not mince my words on these issues of national and state interests, because when Hungary is threatened as regards oil, Slovakia is also threatened, because all the oil for the Slovak refinery is purchased by Hungary, since the refinery in Bratislava is owned by a Hungarian company called MOL. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. This was the last answer. Goodbye.

Thank you very much. ... Good. Honorable Minister of Foreign Affairs of the United States of America, dear Marco Rubio, allow me to welcome you once again, together with your delegation, in Bratislava at the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic. Ladies and gentlemen, together with the Minister we first had a short meeting. And then we negotiated in delegations, where we discussed in greater detail the topics that are the essence of our entire meeting today. I will try to very briefly summarize the conclusions of our talks, whether face-to-face or in delegations. First of all, I very much appreciate that this visit comes shortly after our meeting in Florida, where I had the opportunity to speak with the President of the United States of America, Mr. Trump, in the presence of Mr. Rubio. Therefore this is an excellent follow-up, it is a wonderful continuation, and we were able, shortly after we saw each other in Florida, to say where we have gotten in the topics we discussed together over the past few weeks. I consider the most essential thing from today's meeting, honorable Minister, to be that we respect each other. I emphasized that I am a representative of a government that wants to conduct a sovereign Slovak foreign policy oriented towards all four corners of the world. I emphasized that my basic priority is not to protect the national and state interests of others, but that my basic duty is to protect the national and state interests of the Slovak Republic. And I think it is the right understanding that wherever our interests converge, we act as allies. Where we have different opinions, that forces us to negotiate, to negotiate and to find appropriate solutions. I think I am among the politicians who are always very open in conversations, and I do everything to say the same thing in private meetings as I say in public. Therefore, allow me now to give a few conclusions exactly as they were formulated, as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and I exchanged them. Slovakia cares about cooperation with the United States in the field of nuclear energy. On February 13, an intergovernmental agreement between the United States and Slovakia on cooperation in the field of nuclear energy entered into force. I informed the Minister of Foreign Affairs where we stand. We have a huge interest, under the auspices of an American partner, to create a transnational consortium that would guarantee that Slovakia could build an additional nuclear block with an output of 1,200 MW by 2040. And we look forward to signing concrete agreements with the company Westinghouse during the coming year. I also asked our American partners, of course, for cooperation already in these stages of preparation of this project, because it is a project that goes beyond the scope of Slovakia. It also concerns the entire European Union. Therefore, intensive talks with our European partners will be necessary, and in this we will also need the cooperation of American partners. Since we are on the topic of energy, I informed the Minister of Foreign Affairs about what is happening in this region regarding gas and oil. I will not go far into details. I can only say that Slovakia, as a country that was always at the beginning of various pipelines, whether it was oil or gas, has ended up at the end of these pipelines. We are in an unenviable position because of the ideological and harmful decisions of the European Union. I am speaking in particular now about the Repower EU decision, which stops, for example, the flows of any gas from the east into Europe, starting in our case on November 1, 2027. We looked for various alternatives together, and I really believe that even tomorrow's meeting with the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, could bring some progress regarding the crisis situation that is currently arising in the area of oil supplies to Europe and to the refineries controlled by the Hungarian MOL. The third topic was, of course, the war in Ukraine. Slovakia has its original, unique positions here, which do not always coincide with the positions of our partners in the European Union, but that is our openness, that is our directness, and that is the realization of a sovereign policy oriented towards all four corners of the world. I clearly stated to the Minister of Foreign Affairs how we see the war conflict. We believe it will continue for quite a long time. We do not see a way out to a peaceful ending in the short term, and I offered Slovakia as a country that understands the language both in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation, as a country that has good intelligence services, as a country that is a neighboring country of Ukraine, for a good exchange of views on this topic. And Minister, I want to appreciate the approach of your president, because it is the approach of a person who is very pragmatic and rational and wants to end this war as quickly as possible. We also consider it nonsensical. Therefore, if Slovakia can be helpful in any peace initiatives that will lead to the end of this war, we are fully prepared. Ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to inform you that as of July 1, 2026, Slovakia takes over the chairmanship in an exceptional structure of regional cooperation, and that is the V4, the Visegrad Group. I would like to confirm the words of the Minister of Foreign Affairs that this format should be used not only for that regional cooperation, but we should also consider gradually inviting partners to topics that will be very current at a given moment. Therefore, and we talked about this briefly, if after July 1, 2026 a topic arises where it would be useful to talk in the V4 format with the United States of America, and the partners in the V4 agree with that, of course, we will be ready to organize such meetings. For Slovakia I say that we are interested in such a V4+ United States format on fundamental issues of foreign and energy cooperation. Of course, we also exchanged views on a number of other topics. I would like to add that we are a member state of NATO, we are partners in the North Atlantic Alliance. We understand the position of the United States that Europe must take more care of its own security. I think it is very clear and evident that in Europe we are talking about increasing spending on our own security. This is a natural development that has occurred, and therefore we also talked about how to proceed with budgets for the coming years. We must take into account our possibilities and capabilities. But we equally realize that Slovakia, if it wants to be part of collective security in Europe and in NATO, will have to participate in gradually strengthening our capacities. I would also like to ask for understanding on the point that we are interested in using budgets designated for military purposes to also build dual-use projects — a good example being the huge military hospital being built near the Ukrainian border in the eastern part of the Slovak Republic. Military cooperation will continue. You know that we procured F-16 aircraft from the United States. There is an interest in increasing this number to 18 units. So we are discussing how to get another four aircraft into the Slovak army, because it is not a very good sign of sovereignty if our airspace is today protected by fighter jets of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. We got into this unenviable situation because military equipment was donated to Ukraine in the years 2020 to 2023. There are many other aspects of military cooperation, because we are together in NATO. This was also discussed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Robert Kaliňák, together with the Minister. Other members of the Slovak delegation also took part in the discussion. There was the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Environment, the Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy, who is responsible for cooperation in the field of energy, and of course the partner of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Blanár. Minister, once again, welcome to Slovakia. The conversation was open. I think that none of us hid anything, and again you have probably heard in Slovakia opinions that you do not normally hear, especially regarding the war in Ukraine. But that is what we are here for. We are not here to lie to our partners or to mislead them with information that does not come from objectivity. Thank you for coming, and we look forward to further cooperation.

I just want to say that the question you are asking, or the agenda, was not the subject of our talks, but undoubtedly the Deputy Prime Minister, the Minister of Defense, will provide you with information about where the talks on this topic stand, because talks on this topic are underway, but that was not the subject of today's negotiations.

Mr. Editor, thank you for your questions, and I have no reason to avoid answering your questions. You know, whenever someone dislikes how Slovakia behaves sovereignly, they automatically try to create obstacles to such sovereign behavior. Don't worry, I won't avoid your question, I'll just use a different example. I decided, sovereignly, in the spirit of our sovereign policy, that I would participate in the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the victory over fascism in Moscow. And I had a thousand good reasons for it, because it was the Red Army that liberated Slovakia in the years 1944 and 1945. Whether you believe it or not, two member states of the European Union, two member states of NATO, our partners, did not allow me to fly over their territory to Moscow. I don't recall anyone from the American administration telling me not to go there. When I went to the celebrations of the end of the Second World War in China, I was shocked at how the entire European Union ignored these celebrations. Purely for political, ideological reasons. I had a thousand good reasons to go to China, and I went. And then it's so strange that when I meet informally with some of my colleagues, they ask me quietly, 'So what did President Putin tell you, and what did President Xi tell you?' We must conduct dialogue, Mr. Editor. We must talk. Conversations create space for us to obtain valuable information. Exactly as I am urging now, we must conduct dialogue with the Russian Federation. We must conduct dialogue with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. If we do not conduct dialogue, we cannot claim that we have an interest in ending the war conflict that we see today in Ukraine. And so I come to your question. Simply, not everyone likes that we sovereignly established communication regarding cooperation in nuclear energy, so rumors and fabrications came along. I won't even deal with them, because it's always like this. When a sovereign Slovak government makes a decision that is in line with our policy towards all four corners of the world, and someone here dislikes it, obstacles are created. Things are invented, rumors are spread, and harm is done. That is the answer to the second part of your question. As for the first part of your question, which is the question of Venezuela. Slovakia is a country with 5.5 million inhabitants, and it cannot be compared economically with the great powers we have here today. And we consistently proceed, Mr. Editor, from certain principles. First, our first principle is that we have a priority interest in peaceful cooperation, in peace. That is also why I have completely different views on the war in Ukraine. I do not support the war in Ukraine, and I continue to maintain that there are some member states of the European Union that wish the war to continue. I also want to say that we adhere to the principle of not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. You know what's funny — when I go to visit China, we have an excellent strategic partnership, and journalists ask me whether I criticized China's way of managing its internal affairs. Every country has the right to choose its own path. That is another principle by which we ourselves are guided. Then there is, of course, the third principle, and that is the question of international law. On some things we have a different opinion. The United States of America, for one, is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court. We may also have different opinions on other matters, but that is what we defined at the outset. Where we have the same opinions, that unites us. Where we have different opinions, let's talk about it, conduct a negotiation, and arrive at some conclusion. So all the positions we formulate proceed from these principles. That is, for example, the reason, my colleague, why we have not recognized Kosovo to this day. Because we are convinced that Kosovo was created in violation of international law. But we had no problem, just as we stated our opinion on Venezuela, to say in the case of the war in Ukraine that the use of military force against Ukraine is a violation of international law. I have no other option. I can only express myself on identical situations in an identical way, but I absolutely appreciate, because we see it after a long time, the healthy pragmatism in foreign policy. This was missing here, and I think this is the most valuable contribution that the American president has brought to foreign and world policy. Healthy pragmatism, and not looking after the interests of others. Everyone must first and foremost look after their own interests, national and state interests, but on the condition that this will lead to peaceful coexistence of individual nations and states.

Thank you for the question, my colleague. I have a great advantage, because I don't have to think about what I will say, what answer I will give, because I will say the same thing I have been saying all along from the very beginning. And the Minister of Foreign Affairs could certainly confirm what I said today. The European Union, or some member states of the Union, are in a trap, and that trap is that we are facing an unprecedented crisis of the European Union in terms of competitiveness. We really have a problem. The European Union is in a deep economic crisis, and unless we admit that we adopted nonsensical ideological, climate goals, we will never get out of this crisis. And in this situation, my colleague, it is very difficult for some member states to say, 'We made a mistake in the war on Ukraine.' The strategy was very clear. Already in April, three months after the start of the war, a draft agreement was on the table in Istanbul that could have ended the war, and some Western politicians, primarily from Europe, came and said, 'You must not do this,' because they thought that through this strategy of war — supporting Ukraine, sanctions, loans — Russia would weaken economically and politically. Today we all know that this strategy does not work, but the countries that supported this strategy from the very beginning do not have the courage to admit it and say, 'Enough.' Mr. Editor, we talked about the numbers, how many real victims there are in this war. Those numbers vary, they are this way and they are that way. The fact is this: take a pen and paper and write it down, and when we meet here at the end of this year, I will confront you with it. The European Union is now providing a loan of 90 billion euros for Ukraine. Of that, please correct me, 60 billion for weapons and 30 billion is to go for the functioning of Ukraine as such. I am proud that at the European Council I refused to participate in this military loan. Do you know what will happen? In December we will all be counting another 100,000 dead on the Russian side and on the Ukrainian side. And the only result will be that Russia will be deeper in Ukrainian territory. What is this whole strategy about? So I am not changing my opinion. I am convinced that the war is nonsensical, that the conflict in Ukraine has no military solution. It has no military solution. If this conflict continues without any interest in talking, the result will be only hundreds of thousands of dead people and a stronger position of the Russian Federation. My colleague, the 20th sanctions package is being prepared now. How many sanctions packages are needed to stop the advance of the Russian army? Should there be 100, 150? I believe that just as we invented 20 sanctions packages, we should have invented 20 peace initiatives in the European Union. The European Union should have devoted all its effort, all its energy. There are nearly 500 million of us. We are still economically quite strong, although we have a crisis. And we should have persuaded the warring parties, both Russia and Ukraine: 'Stop this, stop it. Let's find a solution that will be acceptable to both sides.' So I haven't said anything new. I repeat my position from the very beginning, which is different. Not all partners in the European Union agree with me, but I think it is the role of a politician who considers himself sovereign to express sovereign opinions, if he is genuinely convinced of them.

I am proud that at the European Council I refused to take part in this military loan. Do you know what will happen? In December we will all be counting hundreds of thousands more dead on the Russian side and on the Ukrainian side. And the only result will be that Russia will be deeper inside Ukraine's territory. What is the whole point of this strategy? So I am not changing my opinion. I am convinced that the war is senseless, that the conflict in Ukraine has no military solution. It has no military solution. If this conflict continues without any interest in talking, the result will be only hundreds of thousands of dead people and a stronger position for the Russian Federation. Colleague, the 20th sanctions package is being prepared now. How many sanctions packages are needed to stop the advance of the Russian army? Should there be 100, 150? I believe that just as we invented 20 sanctions packages, we should have invented 20 peace initiatives in the European Union. The European Union should have devoted all its effort, all its energy. There are almost 500 million of us. We are still quite economically strong, although we have a crisis, and we should have persuaded the warring parties, both Russia and Ukraine. Stop it, halt it. Let us find a solution that will be acceptable to both sides. So I have said nothing new. I repeat my position from the very beginning, which is different. Not all partners in the European Union agree with me, but I think it is the role of a politician who considers himself sovereign to express sovereign views, if he is genuinely convinced of them.

Mr. Editor, I will allow myself to combine both of your questions and answer them at once with a single answer. When countries are at war, as is the case with Ukraine, nothing else is taken into account. Propaganda is used from one side and from the other side. And just as Ukraine accuses the Russian Federation of abusing energy resources such as oil and gas for political purposes, so the other side in turn accuses Ukraine of doing the same. Mr. Editor, we regularly pulled gas through Slovakia that went through Ukraine into Slovakia and on to Western Europe, and we earned money on the transit fees — around 500 million euros a year. Ukraine, by transiting Russian gas to Europe, earned around 800 to 900 million euros a year in transit fees. And then an ideological decision came: Russian gas will not be transported through Ukraine. That means it will not be transported through Slovakia either. Probably Ukraine does not miss that billion, because they receive enormous revenues, enormous loans — hundreds of millions, billions. These are simply sums of money that we cannot even imagine. Under these conditions, I want to say that Slovakia is behaving very responsibly. We could be offended. And we could adopt retaliatory measures against Ukraine. But on Ukraine we do not see President Zelensky, we do not see politicians. I see there children, women, and families who need to survive a harsh winter. And that is why we decided that, despite what Zelensky did to us — robbing us of 500 million euros a year — we are supplying Ukraine with electricity. These are so-called special electricity shipments, when their energy system fails. And we are supplying them, whether you believe it or not, with gas as well, even though it no longer flows from east to west. You are also asking about oil, so I want to say that there is a decision called Repower EU, which as of November 1, 2027 stops any transit, any transit of Russian gas into Europe, which will cause us enormous difficulties. Enormous difficulties. I don't want to explain it all here now, but as a country that used to be at the beginning of the pipeline, we are now at the end of the pipeline. We do not have ports with LNG terminals available to us. That complicates our situation enormously. And we discussed this with the Secretary of Foreign Affairs. I think that in the post-war settlement of Ukraine, we need to seriously discuss ownership of the pipeline that runs through Ukraine, so that it does not continue to be used as a tool for blackmailing individual countries. Now to the oil and to the situation as it stands at this moment. Ukraine is seeking membership in the European Union. There are countries that do not tell Ukraine the truth, and there are countries that do tell Ukraine the truth. Hungary has long been absolutely fair towards Ukraine when it says that it will not agree to Ukraine's membership in the European Union. We in Slovakia say that Ukraine may enter the European Union on the condition that it fulfills all the necessary requirements. We cannot deceive Serbia now, we cannot deceive Montenegro, we cannot deceive Albania. These countries are a hundred times better prepared to join the European Union than Ukraine is. I don't know, Mr. Editor, who bombed the oil infrastructure in Ukraine. I don't believe either side. I will believe only what I see with my own eyes. There have been so many lies from both sides that I don't have the courage to say who bombed or destroyed part of the oil infrastructure. We have information that it should already be repaired. I just think that once again, oil supplies from Ukraine towards Hungary and Slovakia have become the subject of political blackmail and pressure on us, especially on Hungary. So, Hungary agrees to Ukraine's membership in the European Union — perhaps oil supplies will follow. I think we will have a meeting on this tomorrow. At the moment, supplies are working, everything concerning products from Slovnaft, from the refinery here in Slovakia — we are negotiating with the management of this refinery. Let us adopt all the necessary measures. I think that Slovnaft is also behaving very responsibly on this issue, but what is happening today around oil, I perceive as political blackmail directed at Hungary because of Hungary's uncompromising stance on Ukraine's membership in the European Union. I am very open and direct, and I do not mince my words on these issues of national and state interests, because when Hungary is threatened as regards oil, Slovakia is threatened too, because all the oil for the Slovak refinery is purchased by Hungary, since the refinery in Bratislava is owned by a Hungarian company called MOL. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Secretary of State of the United States of America, dear Marco Rubio, allow me to welcome you once again, together with your delegation, to Bratislava at the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic. Ladies and gentlemen, together with the Secretary we first had a short meeting. And then we negotiated in delegations, where we discussed in greater detail the topics that are the substance of our entire meeting today. I will try to summarize very briefly the conclusions of our talks, whether face-to-face or in delegations. First of all, I greatly appreciate that this visit comes shortly after our meeting in Florida, where I had the opportunity to speak with the President of the United States of America, Mr. Trump, in the presence of Mr. Rubio. So this is an excellent follow-up, it is a wonderful continuation, and we were able, shortly after seeing each other in Florida, to say where we have gotten in the topics we discussed together over the past few weeks. I consider the most essential thing from today's meeting, Mr. Secretary, to be that we respect each other. I emphasized that I am a representative of a government that wants to conduct a sovereign Slovak foreign policy oriented towards all four corners of the world. I emphasized that my basic priority is not to protect the national and state interests of others, but that my basic duty is to protect the national and state interests of the Slovak Republic. And I think it is the right understanding that everywhere our interests converge, we act as allies. Where we have different views, that forces us to negotiate, to negotiate, and to find appropriate solutions. I think I am among the politicians who are always very open in their conversations, and I do everything so that what I say in private meetings I also say publicly. So now allow me a few conclusions, exactly as they were formulated, as the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and I exchanged them. Slovakia cares about cooperation with the United States in the field of nuclear energy. On February 13, an intergovernmental agreement between the United States and Slovakia on cooperation in the field of nuclear energy entered into force. I informed the Secretary of Foreign Affairs where we stand. We have a huge interest, under the auspices of an American partner, to create a transnational consortium that would guarantee that Slovakia could build an additional nuclear block with a capacity of 1,200 MW by 2040. And we look forward to signing concrete agreements with the company Westinghouse during the coming year. I also asked our American partners, of course, for cooperation already in these stages of preparation of this project, because it is a project that goes beyond the framework of Slovakia. It also concerns the entire European Union. Therefore, intensive talks with our European partners will be necessary, and in this we will also need the cooperation of American partners. When we are on the subject of energy, I informed the Secretary of Foreign Affairs about what is happening in this region regarding gas and oil. I will not go too far into details. I can only say that Slovakia, as a country that was always at the beginning of various pipelines, whether it was oil or gas, has ended up at the end of these pipelines. We are in an unenviable position because of the ideological and harmful decisions of the European Union. I am speaking in particular about the Repower EU decision, which stops, for example, the flows of any gas from the east into Europe, starting in our case on November 1, 2027. We looked for various alternatives together, and I really believe that tomorrow's meeting with the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, may bring some progress regarding the crisis situation that is currently arising in the area of oil supplies to Europe and to the refineries controlled by the Hungarian MOL. The third topic was, of course, the war in Ukraine. Slovakia has its original, unique positions here, which do not always coincide with the positions of our partners in the European Union, but that is our openness, that is our directness, and that is the practice of sovereign policy towards all four corners of the world. I clearly told the Secretary of Foreign Affairs our view of the war conflict. We believe it will continue for quite some time yet. We see no way out towards a peaceful ending in the short term, and I offered Slovakia as a country that understands the language both in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation, as a country that has good intelligence services, as a country that is a neighbor of Ukraine, for a good exchange of views on this topic. And Mr. Secretary, I want to appreciate the approach of your President, because it is the approach of a person who is very pragmatic and rational and wants to end this war as quickly as possible. We too consider it senseless. Therefore, if Slovakia can be helpful in any peace initiatives that will lead to the end of this war, we are fully prepared. Ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to inform you that as of July 1, 2026, Slovakia takes over the chairmanship in an exceptional structure of regional cooperation, and that is the V4, the Visegrad Group. I would like to confirm the words of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs that this format should be used not only for that regional cooperation, but we should also consider gradually inviting partners to topics that will be very current at a given moment. Therefore, and we spoke briefly about this, if after July 1, 2026 a topic arises where it would be useful to talk in the V4 format with the United States of America, and if the partners in the V4 agree to it, of course, we will be ready to organize such meetings. For Slovakia I say that we are interested in such a V4+ United States format on fundamental issues of foreign and energy cooperation. Of course, we also exchanged views on a number of other topics. I would like to add that we are a member state of NATO, we are partners in the North Atlantic Alliance. We understand the position of the United States that Europe must take more care of its own security. I think it is very clear and evident that in Europe we are talking about increasing spending on our own security. This is a natural development that has occurred, and that is why we also talked about how to proceed with budgets for the coming years. We must take into account our possibilities and capabilities. But we equally realize that Slovakia, if it wants to be part of collective security in Europe and in NATO, will have to participate in gradually strengthening our capacities. I would also like to ask for understanding on the point that we are interested in using budgets earmarked for military purposes to also build dual-use projects — a good example being the huge military hospital being built near the Ukrainian border in the eastern part of the Slovak Republic. Military cooperation will continue. You know that we procured F-16 aircraft from the United States. There is an interest in increasing this number to 18 units. So we are discussing how to get four more aircraft into the Slovak army, because it is not a very good sign of sovereignty if our airspace is today protected by fighter jets of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. We got into this unenviable situation because military equipment was donated to Ukraine in the years 2020 to 2023. There are many other aspects of military cooperation, because we are together in NATO. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Robert Kaliňák, also spoke about this with the Secretary. Other members of the Slovak delegation also took part in the discussion. There was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, who is responsible for cooperation in the field of energy, and of course the partner of the Secretary, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Blanár. Mr. Secretary, once again, welcome to Slovakia. The conversation was open. I think that none of us hid anything, and once again you have probably heard in Slovakia opinions that you do not normally hear, especially regarding the war in Ukraine — but that is what we are here for. We are not here to lie to our partners or to mislead them with information that does not come from objectivity. Thank you for coming, and we look forward to further cooperation.

I just want to say that the question you are asking, or the agenda, was not the subject of our talks, but undoubtedly the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense will provide you with information about where the talks on this topic stand, because talks on this topic are underway, but it was not the subject of today's meeting.

Mr. Editor, thank you for your questions, and I have no reason to avoid answering your questions. You know, whenever someone dislikes how Slovakia behaves sovereignly, they automatically try to create obstacles to such sovereign behavior. Don't worry, I won't avoid your question, I'll just use a different example. I decided sovereignly, in the spirit of our sovereign policy, that I would attend the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the victory over fascism in Moscow. And I had a thousand good reasons for it, because it was the Red Army that liberated Slovakia in the years 1944 and 1945. Whether you believe it or not, two member states of the European Union, two member states of NATO, our partners, did not allow me to fly over their territory to Moscow. I don't remember anyone from the American administration telling me not to go there. When I went to the celebrations of the end of the Second World War in China, I was shocked at how the entire European Union ignored these celebrations purely for political, ideological reasons. I had a thousand good reasons to go to China, and I went. And then it's so strange that when I meet informally with some of my colleagues, they ask me quietly, 'So what did President Putin tell you, and what did President Xi tell you?' We must conduct dialogue, Mr. Editor, we must talk. Conversations create space for us to obtain valuable information. Exactly as I am urging now, we must conduct dialogue with the Russian Federation. We must conduct dialogue with the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. If we do not conduct dialogue, we cannot claim that we are interested in ending the war conflict that we see in Ukraine today. And so I come to your question. Simply, not everyone likes that we sovereignly established communication regarding cooperation in nuclear energy — so rumors and fabrications came along. I won't even deal with them, because it's always like this. When a sovereign Slovak government makes a decision that is in line with our policy towards all four corners of the world, and someone here dislikes it, obstacles are created. Things are invented, rumors are spread, and harm is done. That is the answer to the second part of your question. As for the first part of your question, which is the question of Venezuela. Slovakia is a country with 5.5 million inhabitants, and it cannot be compared economically with the great powers we have here today. And we consistently proceed, Mr. Editor, from certain principles. First, our first principle is that we have a priority interest in peaceful cooperation, in peace. That is also why I have completely different views on the war in Ukraine. I do not support the war in Ukraine, and I continue to maintain that there are certain member states of the European Union that wish for the war to continue. I also want to say that we adhere to the principle of not interfering in the internal affairs of other countries. You know what's funny — when I go to visit China, we have an excellent strategic partnership, and journalists ask me whether I criticized China's way of managing its internal affairs. Every country has the right to choose its own path. That is another principle by which we ourselves are guided. Then there is, of course, the third principle, which is the question of international law. On some things we have a different opinion. As far as I know, the United States of America is not a signatory to the International Criminal Court. We may also have different opinions on other things, but that was defined at the beginning. Where we have the same opinions, that unites us. Where we have different opinions, let's talk about it, conduct negotiations, and reach some conclusion. So all the positions we formulate proceed from these principles. That is, for example, the reason, colleague, why we have not recognized Kosovo to this day. Because we are convinced that Kosovo was created in violation of international law. But we had no problem, just as we stated our opinion on Venezuela, to say in the case of the war in Ukraine that the use of military force in Ukraine is a violation of international law. I have no other option but to express myself on identical situations in an identical way, but I absolutely appreciate, because we see it after a long time, common sense and pragmatism in foreign policy. This was missing here, and I think this is the most valuable contribution that the American President brought to foreign and world politics. Common sense, pragmatism, and not looking after the interests of others. Everyone must first and foremost look after their own interests, national and state interests, but on the condition that this will lead to peaceful coexistence of individual nations and states.

Thank you for the question. Colleague, I have a great advantage, because I don't have to think about what I will say, what answer, because I will say the same thing I have been saying all along from the very beginning, and the Secretary of Foreign Affairs could certainly confirm what I said today. The European Union, or some member states of the Union, are in a trap, and that trap is that we are facing an unprecedented crisis of the European Union in terms of competitiveness. We really have a problem. The European Union is in a deep economic crisis, and unless we admit that we adopted senseless ideological and climate goals, we will never get out of this crisis. And in this situation, colleague, it is very difficult for some member states to say, 'We made a mistake with the war in Ukraine.' After all, the strategy was very clear. Already in April, three months after the start of the war, a draft agreement was on the table in Istanbul that could have ended the war, and some Western politicians, primarily from Europe, came and said, 'You must not do this,' because they thought that through this strategy of war — supporting Ukraine, sanctions, loans — Russia would be weakened economically and politically. Today we all know that this strategy does not work, but the countries that supported this strategy from the very beginning do not have the courage to admit it and say, 'Enough.' Mr. Editor, we talked about the numbers, how many real victims there are in this war. The numbers vary, they are this way and they are that way. The fact is this: take a pen and paper and write it down, and when we meet here at the end of this year, I will confront you with it. The European Union is now providing a loan of 90 billion euros for Ukraine. Of that, please correct me, 60 billion for weapons and 30 billion is to go for the functioning of Ukraine as such. I am proud that at the European Council I refused to take part in this military loan. Do you know what will happen? In December we will all be counting another 100,000 dead on the Russian side and on the Ukrainian side. And the only result will be that Russia will be deeper inside Ukraine's territory. What is the whole point of this strategy? So I am not changing my opinion. I am convinced that the war is senseless, that the conflict in Ukraine has no military solution. It has no military solution. If this conflict continues without any interest in talking, the result will be only hundreds of thousands of dead people and a stronger position for the Russian Federation. Colleague, the 20th sanctions package is being prepared now. How many sanctions packages are needed to stop the advance of the Russian army? Should there be 100, 150? I believe that just as we invented 20 sanctions packages, we should have invented 20 peace initiatives in the European Union. The European Union should have devoted all its effort, all its energy. There are almost 500 million of us. We are still quite economically strong, although we have a crisis. And we should have persuaded the warring parties, both Russia and Ukraine. Stop it, halt it. Let us find a solution that will be acceptable to both sides. So I have said nothing new. I repeat my position from the very beginning, which is different. Not all partners in the European Union agree with me, but I think it is the role of a politician who considers himself sovereign to express sovereign views, if he is genuinely convinced of them.

Mr. Editor, I will allow myself to combine both of your questions and answer them at once with a single answer. When countries are at war, as is the case with Ukraine, nothing else is taken into account. Propaganda is used from one side and from the other side. And just as Ukraine accuses the Russian Federation of misusing energy resources such as oil and gas for political purposes, the other side in turn accuses Ukraine of doing the same. Mr. Editor, we used to regularly pump gas through Slovakia that went through Ukraine to Slovakia and on to Western Europe, and we earned money on the transit fees — around €500 million per year. Ukraine, by transiting Russian gas to Europe, earned around €800 to €900 million per year in transit fees. And then an ideological decision came: Russian gas will not be pumped through Ukraine. That means it will not be pumped through Slovakia either. Probably Ukraine does not miss that billion, because they receive enormous revenues, enormous loans — hundreds of millions, billions. These are simply sums of money that we cannot even imagine. Under these conditions, I want to say that Slovakia is behaving very responsibly. We could have been offended. We could have adopted retaliatory measures against Ukraine. But on Ukraine we do not see President Zelensky, we do not see politicians. I see there children, women, and families who need to survive a harsh winter. And that is why we decided that, despite what Zelensky did to us — robbing us of €500 million per year — we are supplying Ukraine with electricity. These are so-called special electricity shipments, when their energy system fails. And we are supplying them, whether you believe it or not, with gas as well, even though it no longer flows from east to west. You are also asking about oil, so I want to say that there is a decision called Repower EU, which as of November 1, 2027 stops any transit — any transit of Russian gas into Europe, which will cause us enormous difficulties. Enormous difficulties. I don't want to explain it all here now, but as a country that used to be at the beginning of the pipeline, we are now at the end of the pipeline. We do not have ports with LNG terminals available to us. That complicates our situation enormously. And we discussed this with the foreign minister. I believe that in the post-war settlement of Ukraine, we need to seriously discuss the ownership of the pipeline that runs through Ukraine, so that it does not continue to be used as a tool for blackmailing individual countries. Now, about the oil and the situation as it stands at this moment. Ukraine is seeking membership in the European Union. There are countries that do not tell Ukraine the truth, and there are countries that do tell Ukraine the truth. Hungary has long been absolutely fair toward Ukraine when it says that it will not agree to Ukraine's membership in the European Union. We in Slovakia say that Ukraine may join the European Union on the condition that it fulfills all the necessary requirements. We cannot deceive Serbia now, we cannot deceive Montenegro, we cannot deceive Albania. These countries are a hundred times better prepared to join the European Union than Ukraine is. I don't know, Mr. Editor, who bombed the oil infrastructure in Ukraine. I don't believe either side. I will believe only what I see with my own eyes. There have been so many lies from both sides that I don't have the courage to say who bombed or destroyed part of the oil infrastructure. We have information that it should already be repaired. I only think that, once again, oil supplies from Ukraine toward Hungary and Slovakia have become the subject of political blackmail and pressure on us, especially on Hungary. So, Hungary's consent to Ukraine's membership in the European Union — perhaps oil supplies will follow. I think we will have a meeting on this tomorrow. At the moment, supplies are working, everything as regards products from Slovnaft, from the refinery. Here in Slovakia we are negotiating with the management of this refinery. We will adopt all the necessary measures. I think that Slovnaft is also behaving very responsibly on this issue, but what is happening today around oil I perceive as political blackmail directed at Hungary because of Hungary's uncompromising stance on Ukraine's membership in the European Union. I am very open and direct, and I do not put any napkin in front of my mouth on these issues of national and state interests, because when Hungary is threatened as regards oil, Slovakia is threatened too, because all the oil for the Slovak refinery is purchased by Hungary, since the refinery in Bratislava is owned by a Hungarian company called MOL. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. Please, sit down. Good. Distinguished United States Secretary of State, dear Marco Rubio, allow me to welcome you once again, together with your delegation, to Bratislava at the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, together with the minister we first had a short meeting, and then we negotiated in delegations, where we discussed in greater detail the topics that are the substance of our entire meeting today. I will try to summarize very briefly the conclusions of our talks, whether face-to-face or in the delegations. First of all, I greatly appreciate that this visit comes shortly after our meeting in Florida, where I had the opportunity to speak with the President of the United States, Mr. Trump, in the presence of Mr. Rubio. So this is an excellent follow-up, it is a wonderful continuation, and we were able, shortly after seeing each other in Florida, to say where we had gotten in the few weeks since on the topics we had discussed together. As the most essential point of today's meeting, Mr. Minister, I consider the fact that we respect each other. I emphasized that I am a representative of a government that wants to conduct a sovereign Slovak foreign policy oriented toward all four corners of the world. I emphasized that my basic priority is not to protect the national and state interests of others, but that my fundamental duty is to protect the national and state interests of the Slovak Republic. And I think there is a proper understanding that everywhere our interests converge, we act as allies. Where we have different views, that forces us to negotiate, to negotiate, and to find appropriate solutions. I think I am among the politicians who are always very open in their talks, and I do everything so that what I say in private meetings I also say publicly. So allow me now to give a few conclusions exactly as they were formulated, as the foreign minister and I exchanged them. Slovakia cares about cooperation with the United States in the field of nuclear energy. On February 13, an intergovernmental agreement between the United States and Slovakia on cooperation in the field of nuclear energy entered into force. I informed the foreign minister where we stand. We have a huge interest, under the auspices of an American partner, to create a transnational consortium that would guarantee that Slovakia could build an additional nuclear block with a capacity of 1,200 MW by 2040. And we look forward to signing concrete agreements with the company Westinghouse during the coming year. I also asked our American partners, of course, for cooperation already in these stages of preparation of this project, because it is a project that goes beyond the framework of Slovakia. It also concerns the entire European Union. Therefore, intensive talks with our European partners will be necessary, and in this we will also need the cooperation of American partners. Since we are on the subject of energy, I informed the foreign minister about what is happening in this region regarding gas and oil. I will not go too far into details. I can only say that Slovakia, as a country that was always at the beginning of various pipelines — whether it was oil or gas — has ended up at the end of these pipelines. We are in an unenviable position because of the ideological and harmful decisions of the European Union. I am speaking in particular now about the Repower EU decision, which stops, for example, the flows of any gas from the east into Europe, starting in our case on November 1, 2027. We looked together for various alternatives, and I truly believe that even tomorrow's meeting with the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, may bring some progress regarding the crisis situation that is currently arising in the area of oil supplies to Europe and to the refineries controlled by the Hungarian MOL. The third topic was, of course, the war in Ukraine. Here Slovakia has its original, unique positions, which do not always coincide with the positions of our partners in the European Union, but that is our openness, that is our directness, and that is the implementation of a sovereign policy toward all four corners of the world. I clearly told the foreign minister how we see the war conflict. We believe it will continue for quite a while yet. We see no way out to a peaceful end in the short term, and I offered Slovakia as a country that understands the language both in Ukraine and in the Russian Federation, as a country that has good intelligence services, as a country that is a neighbor of Ukraine, for a good exchange of views on this topic. And Mr. Minister, I want to appreciate the approach of your president, because it is the approach of a man who is very pragmatic and rational and wants to end this war as quickly as possible. We too consider it senseless. So if Slovakia can be helpful in any peace initiatives that will lead to the end of this war, we are fully prepared. Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, I would also like to inform you that as of July 1, 2026, Slovakia takes over the chairmanship of an exceptional structure of regional cooperation, and that is the V4, the Visegrád Group. I would like to confirm the words of the foreign minister that this format should be used not only for that regional cooperation, but that we should also consider gradually inviting partners to topics that will be very current at a given moment. Therefore, and we discussed this briefly, if after July 1, 2026 a topic arises where it would be useful to talk in the V4 format with the United States of America, and if the V4 partners agree to it, of course, we will be ready to organize such meetings. For Slovakia, I say that we are interested in such a V4+ United States format on fundamental questions of foreign and energy cooperation. Of course, we also exchanged views on a number of other topics. I would also like to add that we are a member state of NATO, we are partners in the North Atlantic Alliance. We understand the position of the United States that Europe must take more care of its own security. I think it is very clear and obvious that in Europe we are talking about increasing spending on our own security. This is a natural development that has occurred. That is why we also talked about how to proceed with budgets for the coming years. We must take into account our possibilities and capabilities. But we equally realize that Slovakia, if it wants to be part of collective security in Europe and in NATO, will have to participate in gradually strengthening our capacities. I would also like to ask for understanding on the point that we are interested in using budgets earmarked for military purposes to also build dual-use projects — let the huge military hospital being built near the Ukrainian border in the eastern part of the Slovak Republic be a good example. Military cooperation will continue. You know that we procured F-16 aircraft from the United States. There is an interest in increasing this number to 18 units. So we are discussing how to get four more aircraft into the Slovak army, because it is not a very good sign of sovereignty if our airspace is today protected by fighter jets of Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. We got into this unenviable situation because military equipment was donated to Ukraine in the years 2020 to 2023. There are many other aspects of military cooperation, because we are together in NATO. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, Robert Kaliňák, also spoke about this with the minister. Other members of the Slovak delegation also took part in the discussion. There was the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Environment, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy, who is responsible for cooperation in the field of energy, and of course the partner of the foreign minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Slovak Republic, Mr. Blanár. Mr. Minister, once again, welcome to Slovakia. The conversation was open. I think that none of us hid anything, and once again you have probably heard in Slovakia opinions that you do not normally hear, especially regarding the war in Ukraine. But that is what we are here for. We are not here to lie to our partners or to mislead them with information that does not come from objectivity. Thank you for coming, and we look forward to further cooperation.

I just want to say that the question you are asking, or the agenda, was not the subject of our talks, but undoubtedly the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense will provide you with information about where the talks on this topic stand, because talks on this topic are already underway, but it was not the subject of today's negotiations.