Minister Blanár supported peace negotiations on the end of the war in Ukraine to take place on Friday in Istanbul.
Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of the Slovak Republic Juraj Blanár at the informal ministerial session of NATO diplomacy chiefs, which took place on Wednesday and Thursday in Antalya, Turkey, expressed support for peace negotiations on the end of the war in Ukraine. They should take place on Friday in Istanbul. TASR informed the Communication Department of the Ministry.
“NATO is a defensive grouping, and we must not forget that. The great impact on how we will behave in the alliance will have the development of war in Ukraine, because this war should never have started. It was clearly necessary to negotiate and prevent victims on one and the other.
Support of Ukrainian-Russian negotiations
Slovak diplomacy in this context welcomed the announced Ukrainian-Russian negotiations in Istanbul, Turkey. Blanár declared support for peace discussions and their continuation directly to the US Minister of Foreign Affairs Marc Rubi. “From the outset, we are supporting the peaceful initiative of President Donald Trump’s administration, and the important thing today is that the United States has been able to do what was unable to do the EU – to open a discussion on the peaceful end of the war in Ukraine,” said the Slovak minister. According to him, the Slovak diplomacy is willing to cooperate if necessary and provide cooperation in the peaceful process.
The informal meeting of the ministers was dominated by the preparation of the upcoming NATO leaders’ summit in the Hague, Holland, as well as issues related to increasing defense spending, capacity defense industry capacity, the future of transatlantic relations and cooperation with partners.
Increasing defense expenditure
According to Blanar, the Slovak Republic is aware of the responsibility for its own defense and developing national defense capacities. “The gradual increase in defense expenditure in the horizon of seven to ten years is being discussed, and it is necessary to guarantee such a sequence and flexibility of increasing defense expenditure, which are able to handle both national budgets and the capacity of the defense industry,” the minister said. “For this reason, we will promote that we can use increased defense funds for dual use projects and thus for civilian purposes, such as prepared military hospitals in Prešov and Vajnory, investment in transport infrastructure or defense industry support,” said the head of Slovak diplomacy.
According to Blanar, the June Summit must be answered by the questions of the Member States, what investments will or will not be included in the total defense expenses.
