Valasek: Blanar's Meeting with Lavrov Both Naive and Irresponsible

Bratislava, September 26 (TASR) - The Slovak diplomacy must stop kow-towing to the Russian aggressor, opposition House Foreign Policy Committee Vice-chair Tomas Valasek (PS) declared on Thursday in response to Slovak foreign minister Juraj Blanar's (Smer-SD) meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov. Valasek finds the meeting naive and irresponsible. "The diplomatic path as a solution to the war in Ukraine was tried before by other players of bigger calibre than minister Blanar. Germany, France and the United States. Despite that, Vladimir Putin has always chosen war, proving time and again that he will stop only when his luck runs out. The road to peace leads via more robust aid for Ukraine in its defence, an approach that the government of Robert Fico has repudiated," he claimed. In Valasek's view, if Slovakia had a proud and sovereign government, it would address to the Russian diplomacy a call to stop the aggression against Ukraine, withdraw its troops and pay compensation for damages that Russia has caused as an aggressor. "But the only answer from the incumbent government to the aggression is the call for more diplomacy. That's akin to Slovak insurgents organising a round-table with the Nazis in Banska Bystrica instead of starting the Slovak National Uprising," noted the lawmaker. mf/mcs