Former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, whom President Zuzana Čaputova hinted she would task with forming a government on Monday, told a press conference on Sunday that Slovakia had “more important issues” than aid and relations with Ukraine, but promised that if he becomes prime minister again, he will not change the direction of foreign policy, although he will take a critical position on some European issues, AFP and Reuters reported.

“We believe that Ukraine is a huge tragedy for all of us. If Smer is tasked with forming a government (…), we will do everything possible to organize peace talks as soon as possible,” Fico said, adding that his position on Ukraine remains unchanged , that is, he will be against the continuation of military aid to Kyiv, but not humanitarian aid.

The center-right governments that ruled Slovakia after Russia went to war against Ukraine unconditionally supported Kyiv with arms and ammunition, supplying the Ukrainian military with Slovakia’s entire fleet of MiG-29 fighter jets, the only S-300 anti-aircraft system that Slovakia had, 16 Zuzanna-2 howitzers, 30 BVP-1 BMP, as well as other weapons and a significant amount of ammunition.

However, Robert Fico assured that “the orientation of Slovakia’s foreign policy will not change, but this does not mean that we will not be critical of some European issues.” At the same time, he touched, in particular, on the issue of migration, taking into account that illegal migrants trying to reach Western Europe are increasingly crossing the territory of Slovakia, and the European Commission has included mandatory quotas for refugees in the draft of the European Pact on Migration. Currently, Robert Fico has promised that if he becomes prime minister, he will restore control on the border with Hungary.

But until then, he faces difficult negotiations to form a majority after right-wing President Zuzana Chaputova, with whom he is in open conflict, appoints him to form a government. Fizo called Kaputova a “puppet” of the United States and a supporter of the interests of George Soros, after which the president sued him for defamation.

Meanwhile, Slovakia’s presidency has announced that Zuzana Čaputová is going to give the party that won the election a mandate to form a government on Monday. The name of this party is not indicated in the president’s press release with this message. “In the spirit of our constitutional tradition, tomorrow I will entrust the formation of the government to the winner of the election,” the statement reads.

Robert Fico’s Smer-SD, a conservative social democratic party, won about 23% of the vote in Saturday’s election, while President Zuzana Čaputová’s party, Progressive Slovakia (PS), won just over 17%. votes, with Vocea in third place, a moderate left-wing breakaway party from Smer-SD and led by former prime minister Peter Pellegrini, who will play a crucial role in forming a majority.

Pellegrini, who succeeded Fico as prime minister, has made it clear he would lean towards an alliance with him, although he is keeping his options open. The coalition led by Fico could include the nationalist Slovak National Party (SNS), which won almost 6% of the vote, as well as other small conservative-oriented parties that entered the new parliament, a highly fragmented legislative body. Therefore, Robert Fizo said that he does not expect the negotiations on the formation of the future government to last less than two weeks