Slovakian Minister of Foreign Affairs Juraj Blanar met with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, on the sidelines of a diplomatic forum in Antalya, Turkey on Saturday, March 2.

Blanar was slammed by opposition leaders and the country’s liberal President Zuzana Caputova for accepting the meeting.

Most EU countries – with the exceptions of Hungary and Austria – have ended high-level contacts with Russia since Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

Caputova condemned Blanar’s meeting with Lavrov, stating it “has not brought us closer to just peace in Ukraine, which was illegally and unjustifiably attacked by Russia”.

“Minister Blanar met with the head diplomat of the state which designates [the] Slovak Republic as its enemy, which attacked a neighbouring country and whose representatives hint that their campaign does not have to be over in Ukraine,” commented Tomas Valasek, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee at the Slovak National Council (parliament) and vice chairman of the opposition  Progressive Slovakia party.

The Slovak government defended the meeting as an example of its "balanced" foreign policy.

Fico praised the meeting as an example of a “balanced and sovereign Slovak foreign policy”. Fico made the comments also as the Slovak Minister of Defence Robert Kalinak, who is Fico’s close ally at their leftist nationalist Smer party, met with US Defence Secretary Loyd Austin at the Pentagon a day before Blanar’s meeting.

“Without communication, a diplomatic solution cannot be found and without diplomatic solution no wars end,” Blanar stated. The meeting took place at the request of the Russian side, Slovak and international media reported.

Slovak online news outlet Aktuality.sk reported that Lavrov praised Slovakia for “clearly rejecting” the proposal of French President Emmanuel Macron to send troops to Ukraine. Fico caused a stir ahead of attending the summit in Paris on February 26 when he called a national security council, claiming he “will do everything to prevent direct participation of Slovak soldiers in the war in Ukraine”, even though no such plans are in place.

“We appreciate even more the ability of Prime Minister [Robert] Fico and his government to have their own opinion about the situation in the world,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by Reuters in reference to Slovakia and Hungary diverging from the EU and Nato policies.

Blanar was nominated to Fico’s left-right cabinet, which also includes centre-left Hlas and far-right SNS, by Smer in what was seen as a break from the practice of sending a career diplomat to head the MFA.

When forming his cabinet last October, Fico declared he wanted “a pike fish which will chase the old carps in the pond of Slovak diplomacy” when commenting on the nomination of Smer party loyalist Blanar.     

Smer party won the snap elections last September, capitalising on an aggressive campaign during which its leaders adopted a mix of pro-Kremlin and Slovak nationalist rhetoric, including attacks on minorities and EU institutions.