West effectively at war with Russia now — Slovak PM

PRAGUE, July 1. /TASS/. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico believes that the West is today essentially in a state of war with Russia, according to his speech published on the Facebook page of the party he leads, Direction - Social Democracy (Facebook is banned in Russia, as it is owned by Meta, designated as extremist in the country).

"Today, the Western world is virtually in a state of war with Russia, given the large number of professional paid mercenaries on the territory of Ukraine who operate weapons systems used in this conflict," the prime minister said. "Let us do everything so that the situation that has developed today in Ukraine never escalates into a larger conflict," he added.

Fico called for peace, which, in his view, can only be achieved through dialogue and negotiations. "I belong to a very small group of prime ministers within the European Union who support dialogue, while the majority of EU member states stand for the war in Ukraine," Fico said.

He also supported Ukraine’s accession to the EU, but only on the condition that it fulfills all requirements imposed on candidate countries. According to the Slovak prime minister, before Ukraine joins the bloc, Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania should be admitted to the union.