President Expects Information on Results of Talks with Putin from Fico

Bratislava, December 23 (TASR) - President Peter Pellegrini expects more information from Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) about the results of his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the President's Office informed TASR on Monday. The president believes that the visit to Moscow was not just a politically self-serving step that can significantly harm Slovakia in the eyes of the European Union (EU) and NATO. "It's the premier's indisputable duty to defend the national interests of Slovakia, including the oil and gas supplies for the needs of Slovakia and its partners through the pipeline going via Ukraine, as well as the nuclear fuel supplies," stated Pellegrini. On the other hand, however, talks with the Russian president during the war against Ukraine have an extremely strong foreign-political dimension with regard to Slovakia's EU and NATO memberships, he said. The President recalled that, together with Fico and Peter Ziga (Voice-SD), who has been tasked with heading Parliament on a temporary basis, the top three constitutional officials this year signed a declaration in which they pledged themselves to "support Slovakia's unquestionable membership in the EU and NATO". "I believe that this declaration still fully holds and that all the three signatories will enforce it both in words and in deeds," noted Pellegrini. The Slovak premier arrived for a working visit on Sunday (December 22) to Moscow where he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The talks reportedly concerned the international agenda, as well as the Russian gas transit. ko/mcs