Russian President Vladimir Putin has hosted Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to the Kremlin by an EU leader since Moscow’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022

Fico’s views on Russia’s war on Ukraine differ sharply from most other European leaders. Slovakia's prime minister returned to power last year after his leftist party won parliamentary elections on a pro-Russia and anti-American platform.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico met Russian President Vladimir Putin in a previously unannounced visit to the Kremlin on Sunday for talks, Russian state media reported. It was the first visit by an official representative from Slovakia to Russia since Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.