Slovak President Peter Pellegrini has publicly rejected the legitimacy of an international coalition coordinating military aid to Ukraine, aligning himself with Prime Minister Robert Fico’s pro-Russian foreign policy shift and signalling a sharp turn away from Slovakia’s Western commitments. Speaking at a conference in Bratislava, Pellegrini criticised the France- and UK-led alliance as a destabilising “pseudo-group”, asserting that support for Ukraine should occur only through the EU and NATO. Slovakia’s exclusion from the coalition, following Fico’s suspension of military assistance to Kyiv, now appears as deliberate policy rather than diplomatic oversight—underscored by Pellegrini’s endorsement. His remarks mark a rare alignment between the Slovak presidency and a government accused of undermining transatlantic unity, raising alarm among NATO allies as a once-reliable partner moves to the margins of European security efforts.
On 14 April 2025, during a conference in the Slovak capital, President Pellegrini responded to a moderator’s question by sharply criticising informal coalitions of countries supporting Ukraine. He described such groupings—organised chiefly by France and the United Kingdom—as unstable and divisive. “Let us return to acting at the level of the EU and NATO,” he said. “That will be undoubtedly more lasting than forming pseudo-groups that change from day to day and unnecessarily disrupt unity in the Alliance or the European Union.”
The “coalition of the willing”, composed of around thirty countries from Europe and beyond, emerged as a mechanism to coordinate military assistance to Ukraine. It was partly a response to declining support from the United States under the administration of President Donald Trump. Slovakia, however, was not invited to participate—an exclusion consistent with the current Slovak government’s foreign policy direction.
Under Prime Minister Fico, who returned to power in 2023, Slovakia halted all military aid to Ukraine and adopted a notably more accommodating tone toward Russia. Pellegrini’s public dismissal of the coalition adds presidential legitimacy to this shift. While framed as a defence of multilateralism, his position reinforces Slovakia’s withdrawal from active involvement in Ukraine’s defence.
The president also questioned the viability of proposals to deploy international peacekeepers to Ukraine—a concept backed by Czech President Petr Pavel. Pellegrini remarked that Pavel “may be alone” in his willingness to consider sending troops, further distancing Slovakia from bolder security postures taken by some of its Central European neighbours.
Rather than moderating the government’s stance, Pellegrini is now echoing it. His comments signal a consolidated political consensus at the highest levels of Slovak leadership: one that prioritises procedural legitimacy in Brussels over concrete engagement in Kyiv. For NATO and EU allies, this may translate into continued inertia from a member state once seen as a stable partner on the alliance’s eastern flank.
