A group of pro-government Slovak lawmakers plan to visit Moscow later in January to develop "dialogue" with Russia, according to Andrej Danko, the chair of the co-ruling far-right Slovak National Party (SNS) who will take part in the delegation, the Slovak news agency TASR reported on Jan. 5.
Danko, a Russian-friendly nationalist who serves as the parliament deputy speaker, announced in early December his intent to visit Russia, weeks before Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
Fico's Slovak government has been consistently critical of military support for Ukraine and sanctions against Russia.
More recently, Bratislava threatened Kyiv with cutting energy and humanitarian support after Ukraine did not prolong the transit deal on Russian gas flowing to Slovakia and other EU countries via Ukrainian pipelines.
"We want to understand certain positions, legislature, and restore some relations with Russia," Danko noted, presenting the trip as a continuation of Fico's visit on Dec. 22.
The six-member delegation, which will include lawmakers from Danko's SNS and Fico's Smer (Direction) party, is expected to meet representatives of the Russian government and the parliament.
"We want to open the eyes of the people in Slovakia," Danko said, talking about the supposed importance of Russian gas and Russia's business ties with Western companies.
Despite the EU's attempts at weaning itself off Russian fossil fuels in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, countries like Slovakia and Hungary remain heavily reliant on Russian gas.
Fico was not the first Slovak official to visit Russia last year. Lubos Blaha, a pro-Kremlin member of the European Parliament for the Smer party, visited Moscow in October 2024, praising Russia as "beautiful, wise, and advanced" and calling for an end to hatred towards the country.
Abbey Fenbert
