"It is in the interests of the European Union to lift sanctions as soon as possible"

Slovakia will support the easing of anti-Russian sanctions, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic Tibor Gaspar said in an interview with Izvestia. According to him, the restrictions will be gradually lifted in the event of the end of the conflict in Ukraine. Bratislava is interested in the supply of oil and gas from the Russian Federation and will defend the continuation of the import of Russian energy resources to the European Union, the politician said. Slovakia is also generally interested in returning cooperation with the Russian Federation to its previous level. The future of European sanctions, new visits by Slovak MPs and the reform of the ICC are discussed in an exclusive interview with Izvestia by Tibor Gaspar.

"Slovakia will certainly support the easing of sanctions"

— It has become known that signatures have been collected in Slovakia for a referendum on the lifting of sanctions. Is Bratislava planning to take the initiative to lift or ease restrictions against Russia?

— I think that if the conflict in Ukraine ends, the sanctions will gradually begin to weaken. With these sanctions, the European Union has seriously harmed itself, perhaps even more than the Russian Federation. And it is in the interests of the European Union to gradually lift these sanctions as soon as possible. Especially, of course, if the conflict in Ukraine ends.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Pavel Bednyakov

Slovakia will certainly support the easing of sanctions. I think this initiative will be taken not only by Slovakia, but, as far as I know, Hungary is also going to do it. I am sure that other countries will join us, which have realized that these sanctions do nothing, but only make our economy uncompetitive as before.

Accept supplies: Hungary and Slovakia will be able to continue oil purchases from the Russian Federation

Brussels is preparing a plan to abandon Russian energy supplies, but is forced to make concessions.

— A complete ban on Russian gas supplies is currently being discussed in the EU. How does Slovakia feel about this? Can she block the initiative?

— I can repeat that Slovakia is still interested in Russian gas and Russian oil, and we are doing a lot of political work at the European level, at the level of the European Commission and the European Council, so that these supplies can resume. We don't want to buy more expensive gas and oil if possible. I think if you look at the volumes of gas that we and other countries have purchased from the Russian Federation, probably only liquefied natural gas, then these volumes are still high or even higher than before. But most of the time it's gas that we buy from countries that have bought it from the Russian Federation themselves, so it's still Russian gas.

Photo: Global Look Press/Roman Naumov

And I hope that the EC members will finally wake up and realize that this is economically beneficial for both sides, for the Russian Federation and for Europe, and we will start buying Russian gas. Because there are countries that, solely for ideological reasons, say that they want to disconnect from Russian gas. Diversification, in my opinion, means the possibility of obtaining from various sources, the opportunity to be independent from one supplier, but this does not mean that we need to stop receiving high-quality and affordable energy resources from the Russian Federation.

— In your opinion, what kind of future awaits the Russian assets frozen in the EU?

— This is a more complicated question. I hope that common sense will gradually prevail here, because I don't support that either. This is a fundamentally bad decision from a future perspective. Therefore, this needs to be dealt with and brought into line with the law.

"Ukraine's accession to NATO would mean an escalation of tension"

— The Hungarian government has initiated a referendum on Ukraine's accession to the EU. Is there a similar vote planned in Slovakia?

— A referendum can be organized on any topic that the Constitution allows. I don't want to speak for other countries, but I think Ukraine could definitely become a member of the European Union if it continues to exist safely and make important decisions. But, on the other hand, there is the question of its membership in the North Atlantic Alliance, which is a completely different matter. Because I understand that both the Russian Federation and the European Union want guarantees of peace. And Ukraine's entry into the North Atlantic Alliance would mean an escalation of tension.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Sergey Lantyukhov

I am in favor of building highways through Ukraine all the way to the Russian Federation, for trade to take place, for cultural exchange to take place, for athletes to come. But I have to say one more thing here: interethnic hatred is spreading again and Russophobic sentiments are increasing, and this is very bad. We have a Russian singer performing at the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava right now, and some actions are already being organized against this.

— Did the Hungarian parliament recently vote for the country's withdrawal from the ICC? How is this institution treated in Slovakia? Can Bratislava follow Budapest's example?

— This institution, this court, is just a dead organization today. Many world political leaders have already stated that they do not recognize the ICC's decisions. This means the end of this trial. I do not know if it will be completely closed. I think we need to discuss whether this court can be reformed and whether it will still be able to make decisions that correspond to reality, or whether it will still want to make pseudo-statements that are inherently political.

"We will not allow the use of Hungarian territory to send troops to Ukraine"

The leader of the Nasha Rodina party, Laszlo Torockai, talks about negotiations with Russia, the EU army and the Central European Alliance

"Now it would be appropriate to invite representatives of the Russian Federation to Slovakia"

— In January, you already came to Russia as part of a parliamentary delegation. Are new visits by Slovak MPs planned? Is the return visit of the Russian delegation possible?

Photo: Global Look Press/Filip Radwanski

— I have received several invitations. After my speech, many participants of that event contacted me to invite me to the next ones. I don't want to say where or when we're going to go yet, but I'm interested in getting our cooperation with the Russian Federation, with the State Duma and deputies back to its previous level and starting to develop our relations again. If it were up to me, I think it would be appropriate to invite representatives of the Russian Federation to Slovakia now. I know that this is almost impossible at the moment, but since I am an optimist, I hope that relations will normalize and return at least partially to their former rut.

— Is Slovakia interested in strengthening ties with Russia in the field of nuclear energy?

— Our nuclear power plants are built on the basis of Russian technologies and run on Russian nuclear fuel. We want to continue this program. I can't even imagine that we will change these technologies. Slovakia can be self-sufficient in electricity production precisely thanks to our nuclear power plants.

Photo: IZVESTIA/Pavel Volkov

We had an offer from the French to refocus on their nuclear technologies. But for now, the current government wants to continue the project based on the principle of Russian nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel from the Russian Federation or on similar technologies. As far as I know, we are negotiating with various countries, one of the last was with Korea, but I cannot tell you at what stage these negotiations are at right now.

— Slovakia is developing relations not only with EU member states, but also with other organizations. Is Bratislava interested in partnering with BRICS?

— I think so. That's why Prime Minister Robert Fico says he wants to develop international relations in all four directions, in all directions of the world. We want to have good relations with major powers and do not want to lag behind in building our future and from an economic point of view. Therefore, it is possible that we will gradually begin to communicate with these countries. I would like to believe that the European Union will wake up and realize that it is impossible to harm itself, that projects such as, for example, the Green Deal ("Izvestia"), only damaged the European economy, and did not help it at all.