BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico reacted angrily on Friday after the U.K. ambassador to Bratislava criticized his interview with Russia’s Rossiya 1 state-owned television, saying, “Slovakia is not Britain’s colony.”
“I don’t know what gives you a right to interfere in my media activities,” Fico said in a video sent by his office. He is currently on a visit to China.
“That you represent a bigger and stronger state in Slovakia does not justify your unacceptable behavior,” Fico said, calling on Ambassador Nigel Baker to stop interfering in his government’s sovereign foreign policy.
In his interview for the Russian propaganda channel, Fico condemned Western support for Ukraine that is fighting the Russian aggression, repeating his opinion it only prolongs the war and accusing the European nations of not being interested in a peaceful resolution.
Baker said on X on Wednesday he regretted that Fico agreed to talk to a presenter who is under British and European Union sanctions and said Fico’s claim that the West doesn’t want peace is not true. He also said that the fastest way to peace would be the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine.
Fico returned to power for the fourth time last year after his leftist party Smer (Direction) won parliamentary elections on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform.
His views on Russia’s war on Ukraine and other issues sharply differ from the European mainstream. Fico ended his country’s military aid for Ukraine, opposes EU sanctions on Russia, and wants to block Ukraine from joining NATO.
In the interview with Russian TV, he said it would be an honor for him to attend a traditional military parade in Red Square in Moscow to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII on May 9 next year.
The interview was condemned by Slovakia’s opposition and politicians in the neighboring Czech Republic.
