Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico will travel to Moscow on May 9 to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin, becoming the only EU head of government to visit Russia on a day the Kremlin has weaponised as justification for its invasion of Ukraine.
Fico confirmed the visit on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Yerevan, where he had earlier held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as Slovak outlet SME reported. He said he would lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow and hold a brief meeting with Putin but insisted he would not attend the military parade. “I am not attending any military parade. It will be the same format as before,” Fico said.
A Parade Without Tanks — But Not Without Symbolism
This year’s Victory Day parade will be held without military vehicles for the first time in nearly two decades. Russia’s Defence Ministry cited concerns over Ukrainian long-range drone strikes as the reason for the scaled-back format, as The Moscow Times reported – a telling signal that the annual showcase of military power is under pressure from the very war it is meant to glorify. Ukraine struck Moscow with drones for three consecutive days from May 4 to 6, repeatedly forcing airport closures in the region.
The parade is one of the Kremlin’s primary propaganda tools, used to draw a direct line between the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany and Russia’s current war against Ukraine, which Moscow falsely frames as a “denazification” operation. Despite the diminished spectacle, the Kremlin assembled a significant foreign guest list. According to the Kyiv Independent, at least 29 world leaders were expected in Moscow, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, alongside leaders from Belarus, Serbia, Venezuela, Cuba, and a range of African and Central Asian states. Fico was the only EU member state leader to attend. All other EU governments boycotted the event.
In 2025, when the parade marked the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, 27 foreign leaders travelled to Moscow, including Fico, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Xi Jinping, and Lula da Silva. The Baltic states Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as Poland, refused to allow Fico’s plane to transit their airspace en route to Moscow this year. The Czech Republic granted permission.
Fico’s Pro-Kremlin Track Record
The Moscow visit is consistent with a pattern of pro-Russian positioning that has defined Fico’s foreign policy since he returned to power. When Ukraine ended the transit of Russian gas through its territory at the start of 2025, Fico threatened to cut humanitarian aid, social benefits for Ukrainian refugees, and emergency electricity supplies to Ukraine unless Kyiv restored the pipeline flows. He also threatened to veto EU decisions on Ukraine and in January 2025 said publicly he was “fed up with” Zelenskyy, whom he accused of “roaming Europe begging and blackmailing others”. Fico has refused to provide military aid to Ukraine and has opposed EU loan programmes for Kyiv. He travelled to Moscow in December 2024 to meet Putin personally over the gas dispute – a visit that drew sharp criticism from European partners.
Coalition Partners Push Further
The pressure from within Fico’s own governing coalition points to even deeper pro-Russian currents in Slovak politics. Andrej Danko, leader of the Slovak National Party (SNS), a coalition partner of Fico’s Smer-SD, reacted with outrage to Fico’s Yerevan meeting with Zelenskyy. After Zelenskyy said Slovakia had confirmed support for Ukraine’s EU membership, Danko published a statement demanding that Fico guarantee he would never vote for Ukraine’s accession to the EU for the remaining duration of the current government’s term. “Ukraine cannot be a member of the European Union,” Danko wrote. SNS stated it was prepared to go “to the edge of political responsibility” if Fico did not provide this guarantee. Danko also demanded Ukraine compensate Slovakia for losses from the halted Druzhba oil pipeline and repay more than four billion euros in aid — including MiG fighter jets and S-300 air defence systems — that Slovakia had previously provided to Kyiv.
A Shifting Calculus
Despite his sustained pro-Kremlin positioning, analysts have noted signs that Fico may be recalibrating. Following the defeat of Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party in Hungary’s parliamentary elections, political analyst Oleh Posternak told Ukrainian outlet 24 Kanal that Fico’s sudden “warming” toward Ukraine was no coincidence — Orbán had built his campaign on anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, and it failed. That outcome removed one of the key reference points for Fico’s own political positioning.
In Yerevan, Fico said a joint meeting of the Slovak and Ukrainian governments could take place in Bratislava before the end of June, covering road and rail connectivity, energy cooperation, and humanitarian aid. He also said Slovakia would not provide free weapons to Ukraine but was open to arms sales. His visit to Moscow on May 9, however, sends a signal that no amount of diplomatic warm words in Yerevan can fully obscure.
