РУССКИЙ
11:25 03.09.2025 •
Meeting with Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico.
Photo: Kremlin.ru
Vladimir Putin met with Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has arrived in China to take part in the commemorative events marking the 80th anniversary of the Chinese people’s victory in the War of Resistance against Japan and the end of World War II, Kremlin informs.
September 2, 2025
Beijing
Attending the meeting on the Russian side were Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office – Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, Minister of Energy Sergei Tsivilev, and Director General of the State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin:
Mr Prime Minister, colleagues. We are happy to see you here.
I recall your visit to Moscow and would like to thank you once again for joining us then and sharing in the emotions linked to the Victory in the Second World War and the struggle against Nazism. Now, we meet again in Beijing at similar commemorative events dedicated to the final conclusion of World War II.
We greatly appreciate the independent foreign policy that you and your government are pursuing, which is yielding positive results, most notably in economic terms. In this context, I would like to emphasise that Russia remains a reliable supplier of energy resources.
Furthermore, several Slovak companies continue to operate successfully in the Russian market, which, in my view, also benefits the Slovak economy as a whole.
Nevertheless, we continue to face challenging conditions due to various external restrictions. At one time, our trade turnover reached 10 billion dollars, if calculated in dollar terms; today, it has fallen to less than 4 percent of that figure. There are, however, some positive developments, and I hope we will be able to strengthen and sustain these trends.
I am very pleased to have the opportunity to meet with you again here in Beijing, on the sidelines of the events commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
Photo: Kremlin.ru
Prime Minister of the Slovak Republic Robert Fico (retranslated):
Thank you, Mr President.
First, I have a somewhat unpleasant question – how are you?
Vladimir Putin:
If I am alive, that is already a good sign. A pleasant question, indeed.
Robert Fico:
I would like to express my gratitude for the hospitality extended to our delegation during the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. It was truly impressive for all of us, and believe me, I have no regrets about coming.
I refuse to go along with the criticism coming from certain EU members, because I have it all sorted out in my head, and I know that the peoples of the former Soviet Union and China paid the highest price for victory. Thank you again for your excellent hospitality.
Mr President, I would like to reiterate that as far as World War II is concerned, Slovakia’s policy is to honour all victims. We have respect for all victims and we will continue to cooperate with your embassy in matters of tending to military cemeteries. We have a joint project in the town of Michalovce. We are unable to keep up with your pace. However, rest assured that all the commitments we have assumed will come to fruition throughout Slovakia. We have great respect for the monuments and military cemeteries. You can fully rely on us in this regard.
Mr President, I would like to present you with a good message. You are aware that we are a member of the European Union and NATO. We consider our membership our living space. I am not one of those politicians, Mr President, who will make up tall tales. I speak frankly and openly. Of course, our opinions on issues vary. We discussed this during my visit to Moscow and here as well.
This will probably make the media members laugh, but I started telling your press secretary a story about a frog or a toad. Occasionally, I have an impression that we in the European Union are like this toad that sits at the bottom of a well and does not see what is going on high on the surface. But the world has completely changed. Sometimes, I feel very disappointed to see the European Union, even though I have a lot of respect for it, unable to respond to what is happening around the world, and I do not understand some of the EU decisions.
That is why I want to be candid at this meeting and make it clear that we are very interested in standardising relations between the Slovak Republic and the Russian Federation. I suggest convening a meeting or a session of the joint commission as soon as possible. We must look for the opportunities to deepen and expand our cooperation, and to identify areas where we can work closely together.
With regard to gas supplies via the TurkStream, the volumes are gradually increasing, we are very close to 4 billion cubic metres. We react strongly to attacks on oil infrastructure.
On Friday, I will meet with the President of Ukraine in the city of Uzhgorod, and I will raise this issue very seriously. This infrastructure is very important to us and cannot be attacked. You are probably aware of the European Commission’s decision regarding RePowerEU, that is, the suspension of gas and oil transport beginning in 2027. We will vote against this decision in the European Union. I am sure a lot can change before January 1, 2028, and RePowerEU may not be operational by that time, because we find it exceedingly harmful.
We wish to continue our cooperation in the energy sector and remain interested in Russian gas and oil supplies. At the same time, we are also eager to explore collaboration in other areas.
I can confirm that the Slovak Republic plans to build a new state-owned reactor with a capacity of 1,100 megawatts. We are currently in discussions with the American company Westinghouse. As you know, all of Slovakia’s existing reactors are of Soviet or Russian design, and nuclear energy accounts for more than half of the country’s electricity consumption. I would be very pleased to see Russian-American cooperation in this field, and it would be beneficial to engage with Westinghouse on such a project. Therefore, if you agree, Mr President, we could schedule a meeting of the joint commission. We are already organising certain events, and, being in the Schengen area, it can be somewhat complicated for Russian citizens, but I see no reason why we should not be able to cooperate.
Mr President, I do not have a specific message to deliver today. On many issues concerning the military conflict in Ukraine, my positions differ significantly from those of our Western colleagues.
I would like to ask if I may convey a message from you to our colleagues. Your recent actions regarding the meeting with the US President represent a significant step forward, and I would like to receive more detailed information about our current position and what we might expect going forward.
Mr President, of course, I face criticism for being here in Beijing and for holding this meeting. Naturally, many will call and ask what President Putin said. It would be valuable if we could exchange information on this matter. Thank you once again. I am very pleased to meet with you and to see our relations developing steadily, step by step.
I would also like to note that the European Union faces an important decision regarding Ukraine’s potential membership. On one hand, we affirm that every country has the right to determine its own future; on the other hand, we stress that Ukraine must meet all the criteria required for EU accession. I expect this to be an important topic, which I plan to discuss with President Zelensky on Friday. While we support Ukraine in this matter, I want to emphasise – as I have stated from the very beginning – that Ukraine cannot become a member of NATO. This is my final decision. However, regarding EU accession, we are ready to cooperate with Ukraine.
Thank you once again. I believe I have raised several topics that we can discuss.
Thank you.
Vladimir Putin:
Mr Prime Minister,
As we know, Slovakia is a member of both the EU and NATO, and hence you can afford to criticise their policies because it is your community, your family today.
I do not wish to put you in a difficult or ambiguous position by criticising NATO or the European Union. I do not want to compare them to reptiles or animals. They are not experts on fairy tales; they are experts on horror stories.
What we see now are never-ending attempts to fuel hysteria over Russia’s alleged intention to attack Europe. I believe that reasonable people dismiss this as an obvious provocation or total incompetence, because any reasonable person understands perfectly well that Russia has never had, does not have and will never have any desire to attack anyone.
The conflict in Ukraine, as I have stated on numerous occasions, including at the SCO meetings just now, did not happen because of our aggressive behaviour. The reason for it is the West’s encouragement of the state coup in Ukraine. Incidentally, even though senior officials from three states – Poland, France and Germany – put down their signatures as guarantors of an agreement between the authorities and the opposition in Ukraine in 2014, a state coup was carried out several days later, and those who guaranteed the agreement between the opposition and the president did not raise a finger to return the political process in Ukraine to the constitutional framework. Instead, they supported those who staged the coup. That is how this conflict began. After that the situation came to a head in Crimea and in southeast Ukraine, in Donbass. This is the essence of the conflict.
As for Russia, it had to protect its interests and the people who linked their lives and their future to the Russian Federation, to Russia, our history and traditions. This is the essence and the root cause of the conflict. It did not happen because of our aggressive behaviour, but because of the aggressive conduct on the other side. We have no goals other than to protect our interests. Because the other side of the coin is that NATO is being used as an instrument for taking over virtually all of the post-Soviet space. We had to respond to that. That is the problem.
My recent contacts with President Trump and the US administration in Anchorage have shown that the new administration listens to us. We expressed our concerns during our contacts with the previous administration, with President Biden, but nobody wanted to listen and nobody wanted to hear. But we can see the possibility of mutual understanding now. We are very pleased about this, and we hope that this constructive dialogue will continue.
Regarding Russia’s “aggressive plans” towards Europe, I would like to emphasise once again that this is complete nonsense without any basis whatsoever.
Now, regarding attacks on energy infrastructure, in particular, by Ukraine. For a long time, even a couple of years ago, we did not take any actions concerning civilian infrastructure, especially during the winter period. We tolerated for a very long time while Ukrainian forces continuously attacked our energy facilities. After that, we began to strike back. And we are responding, of course, seriously, that is true. In response, the Ukrainian side is trying to cause damage to us, but in doing so, they are causing damage to our partners as well.
What can I say? After all, Ukraine receives a sizable portion of energy through its neighbours in Eastern Europe. Cut off gas supplies that come via reverse flow, cut off electricity supplies, and they will instantly come to realise that there are certain limits to their behaviour in violating others’ interests.
Speaking of nuclear power plants, the choice, of course, always remains with the customer. We have extensive experience cooperating with our foreign partners, including European partners. In particular, this applies to our joint work in Hungary. We can consider the possibility of cooperating with Westinghouse the way you are suggesting as well. Also, by the way – I mention this in passing – we can cooperate with our US partners at the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant as well. We have indirectly discussed these matters with them.
The same, by the way, applies to the Ukrainian side. Should favourable circumstances present themselves – we have discussed this with our US colleagues – we can even work on the Zaporozhskaya Nuclear Power Plant as a group of three. This does not really concern Slovakia, but it is a prerequisite for us to carry out joint projects in the Slovak market as well. Even though our company Rosatom is a good and reliable partner for our colleagues in Slovakia. Not only does the nuclear power plant of Soviet-Russian design operate properly, but the fuel supply also continues regularly, on an uninterrupted and unfaltering basis. By the way, it would be a wrong move to replace our fuel with foreign-made fuel, fuel from another manufacturer, from a third country, because there are technical specifications. I think it is inadvisable to do so, but you can always discuss it at the specialist level.
With regard to Ukraine’s EU membership, we have never objected to it. NATO is a different matter where we are dealing with security of the Russian Federation. And not only today, not in the medium term, but in the long term. Our position is well-known: we consider this unacceptable.
Naturally, it is up to Ukraine to ensure its security. But this security, as was stated in the fundamental documents, including those in the sphere of security in Europe, cannot be ensured at the expense of the security of other countries, particularly at the expense of the Russian Federation.
There are options to ensure Ukraine’s security in the event of the conflict coming to an end. We discussed this in Anchorage as well, and I think we can achieve consensus here.
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