Sanctions Won't Work On Solving Russia-Ukraine Crisis: Slovak FM

(MENAFN- IANS) Antalya (Turkey), March 3 (IANS) Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar has said that his country opposes imposing sanctions on Russia and won't send any weapons or troops to Ukraine to escalate the war.

"Sanction hurts even more the European Union than the Russian economy," he told reporters on Saturday after a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the Antalya diplomacy Forum held in the southern Turkish city.

"We will not support any other sanction which will hurt more Slovakia than Russia," he noted.

"As the new government of Slovakia, we will not deliver any weapons from the warehouses of Slovakia force to Ukraine," said Blanar, noting that his government halted sending a package of weapons that cost around 40 million euros to Ukraine, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Our position is more clear now than before because the frontier doesn't move, and we are calling for ceasefire and peace talking process which is the only solution of this crisis," he told reporters.

His remarks came after French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that "everything that is necessary" must be done to ensure the defeat of Russia, including deploying troops.

In response to Macron's remarks, Lavrov on Friday said Macron did not misspeak over the possibility of NATO sending troops to Ukraine, noting that the troops were already there unofficially.

Macron's remarks have been rejected by several NATO countries, who said that they had no plans to send troops to Ukraine to fight against Russia.

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