“Zelensky is a beggar roaming Europe” (Robert Fico)
Slovakia's populist left-wing Prime Minister Robert Fico has compared Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky to a beggar who “goes around Europe asking for alms.”
He declared that he had had enough of him. “I'm not here to hold President Zelensky's hand. I admit that at times I've had enough. He goes around Europe begging for handouts,” said Mr. Fico during an oversight session of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee.
He was referring to Mr. Zelensky's insistence that his European allies provide him with sufficient military and financial aid to defend his country against the Russian aggression it has been enduring for almost three years.
The Slovak Prime Minister reacted harshly to Mr. Zelensky's decision not to renew the gas transit contract with Gazprom for the Druzhba pipeline, which deprives Slovakia of cheaper fuel and transit fees for gas supplied to third countries, which he estimates at around 500 million euros a year.
(MH with AmBar/Source: Agence/Photo: DPA/Anadolu/Isabella Bonotto)