Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will be the only EU head of government attending Russia's 9 May commemorations in Moscow, where he is expected to hand-deliver a message from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Vladimir Putin, the Slovak Foreign Ministry has confirmed.
State Secretary of the Foreign Ministry Rastislav Chovanec announced the move at a meeting of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, according to Slovak outlet Marker. Chovanec said the visit could also yield insight from Putin himself.
"He may also receive valuable information from the Russian president on his assessment of efforts to end the conflict," Chovanec said.
He argued that European politicians should be present in negotiations leading to a settlement, and noted that several leaders, including from Western Europe, had already begun pushing for direct dialogue with Putin on ending the war.
Moscow itinerary
Fico will travel to Moscow on 9 May, lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and meet briefly with Putin, Euractiv reports. He does not plan to attend the Victory Day parade on Red Square.
The two leaders last met in September 2024. At that meeting, Fico said Bratislava had reacted "very sharply" to attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline. Russian oil supplies to Slovakia and Hungary via Ukraine were disrupted earlier this year — Bratislava and Budapest accused Kyiv of "political blackmail" — before being resumed in late April.
The trip has already been complicated by logistical hurdles, with Baltic states denying Fico overflight rights, according to Euractiv.
"Slovakia simply does not have that kind of weight"
Fico has said he "will not allow" anyone to make him feel guilty about the visit. But analysts cited by Euractiv argue his room for maneuver is limited.
With Viktor Orbán leaving power in Hungary, some have speculated that Fico could try to inherit the role of the EU's pro-Russian outlier. Tomáš Strážay of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association rejected the comparison.
"Slovakia simply does not have that kind of weight," he told Slovak outlet SME.
Alexander Duleba, also of the Slovak Foreign Policy Association, told Denník N that the visit was driven by domestic politics.
"I think he is doing this [trip] solely for the sake of his electorate," Duleba said. "I see no other reason for this, especially after Orbán's defeat."
Brussels and domestic pressure
The trip comes as Slovakia faces a series of EU warnings. Last month, MEPs urged the European Commission to activate a mechanism that could freeze EU funds to a member state over rule-of-law concerns. Brussels has separately flagged shortcomings at Slovakia's agricultural payments agency, putting farmers' funds at risk, Euractiv reports.
Recent government U-turns on whistleblower protections and dual fuel pricing also point to Fico's sensitivity to EU pressure. Domestic support for his coalition is slipping for the third year in a row, with tax hikes failing to ease rising living costs.
The visit has also drawn criticism from inside Fico's own camp. Last year, the pro-Russian Slovak National Party (SNS), Fico's junior coalition partner, criticized him for refusing to wear the St George ribbon — a black-and-orange symbol associated with Russian military remembrance — at the 9 May parade.
Pivot toward Kyiv
While preparing the Moscow visit, Fico has also been preparing renewed talks with Zelenskyy. The two met at a summit in Yerevan on 4 May. Fico initially floated holding a meeting in Kyiv — the first since he returned to power in 2023 — before rowing back and citing "security reasons", favoring Bratislava instead.
In recent weeks, Fico has dropped threats to block EU sanctions on Russia or loans to Ukraine, tools he had previously used as leverage.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, cited by Aktuality.sk, said Fico's "more constructive stance" towards Kyiv could help "forgive his visit to Moscow".
Wider EU debate on talking to Putin
Fico's trip lands amid an unresolved discussion in Brussels about whether and how to talk to Moscow. European Council President António Costa said EU countries "have the potential" to negotiate with Putin, the Financial Times reports.
"I am holding talks with the leaders of the 27 EU countries to determine the best way to organize our work and to understand what we should discuss with Russia when the time comes," Costa said at the European University Institute in Florence.
Costa said the EU did not intend to interfere in US-led negotiations and had not yet seen signs that Moscow was ready for dialogue with Brussels. According to the Financial Times, EU leaders are concerned about being sidelined as US, Russian, and Ukrainian negotiations drag on, but there is no agreement among the 27 on who should speak for the bloc, when, or with what proposals.
In February, French President Emmanuel Macron announced preparations for a technical dialogue with Moscow, and his diplomatic adviser Emmanuel Bonne made a quiet visit to the Russian capital. In March, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the conversation "did not give any positive signals" on Ukraine.
Other European voices have called for re-engagement. Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis said his country had "done everything to maintain these relations, despite the sanctions." Former European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said: "Russia is our neighbor, as is Türkiye, by the way. And in the long term, we need normalization of relations." Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever called for normalization, citing "cheap resources", before warning that it was off the table while the war in Ukraine continued.
The Kremlin says Russia is open to dialogue. Putin himself has said Europe "has no peace agenda" and is "on the side of war".
Czechia clears Fico's flight to Moscow
Czech Republic has granted Fico permission to use its airspace to travel to Moscow in May for the so-called Victory Day commemorations, the Czech Foreign Ministry.
"The Slovak side submitted a standard request for overflight permission, and it was issued without delay," ministry spokesperson Adam Csörgő told the agency.
Csörgő did not specify the timeframe covered by the permission, nor explain why Czechia, unlike several other European states — including the Baltic countries — chose to grant the request. Several European governments had previously refused Bratislava's requests for overflight access to enable Fico to attend the ceremonies hosted by Vladimir Putin.
