Moscow said joining a commission assessing claims for war damage would be an “unfriendly step”. Fico’s government denies bowing to Russian pressure.
UPDATE, 2 September: The government has approved signing the convention establishing an International Claims Commission for Ukraine.
Russia warned Slovakia against joining a new international commission that will assess compensation claims for damage caused by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Weeks later, Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government put the plan on hold.
The warning appears in a 10 July email sent by Slovakia’s ambassador in Moscow, Peter Priputen, and obtained by Denník N. The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party also raised the case on Tuesday.
According to the email, a Russian Foreign Ministry official called the Slovak embassy to say that Moscow would consider Slovakia’s signing of the agreement an “unfriendly step” that went against the “current spirit of Slovak-Russian relations”.
