Russia praises Slovakia for well-balanced and pragmatic approach

Certain general limits "not through any fault of Russia" have emerged in the cooperation between Russia and the EU - and thus also between Russia and Slovakia, noted Russian Embassy to Slovakia press attaché Alexey Kulagin on Tuesday. "The existing Western sanctions against Russia and our retaliatory activities won't benefit anyone, including Slovakia. According to our information, it is the automobile industry and railway construction sector that hurt most, a large part of the production that is bound for exports to our country", said Kulagin. Russia appreciates "generally well-balanced statements of Slovak administration towards the situation in Ukraine and the issue of sanctions", said Kulagin. "We hope that Bratislava will maintain its well-balanced and pragmatic approach in practical issues of our mutual cooperation". Kulagin stressed that no military solution to the Ukrainian conflict exists, nor is there a sensible alternative to peaceful resolution of the internal Ukrainian crisis aside from multilateral and unconditional compliance with the Minsk Agreement from February 12, 2015. The Russian press attaché also emphasised the grave concerns elicited by "political terror in Ukraine, accompanied with murders of those representatives of the press who dare to express opinions differing from the stance of Kiev authorities". According to Russia, the West should pressure Kiev to "give up its self-destructing policy of celebrating Nazis and persecuting those who saved Europe from fascism", although Moscow registers initiatives to the contrary on the part of Washington. Kulagin also voiced concerns about news of the arrival of 290 US soldiers to the Yavoriv training facility in Lviv Oblast in western Ukraine. American paratroopers, along with their British and Canadian counterparts, are expected to train Ukrainian National Guard there. According to Kulagin, however, there are "nationalists among the guardists who bear Nazi symbols on their uniforms and are stained with the blood of women, children and the elderly".