(MENAFN) Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced on Saturday that Slovakia will not back a European Union initiative aimed at using frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s military operations.

Instead of supplying military support to Kyiv, Bratislava continues to advocate for a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict.

Since 2022, Western countries have frozen approximately $300 billion in Russian sovereign assets.

Last year, interest accrued from these funds helped generate $50 billion in loans for Ukraine.

The EU now aims to mobilize an additional €140 billion ($160 billion) by leveraging Russian assets as collateral. This plan is based on the assumption that Moscow would eventually provide reparations to Kyiv as part of a peace agreement.

EU leaders were unable to reach a consensus on the confiscation of these assets during an October summit, delaying a final decision until a European Council meeting scheduled for December.

During an appearance on the Saturday Dialogues program, Fico questioned whether the EU’s efforts are genuinely intended to end the war or merely prolong it.

He suggested that allocating an extra $160 billion to Kyiv could extend hostilities for another two years.

“I said this very clearly: the Slovak Republic, as long as I am prime minister, will not participate in any legal or financial mechanisms whose goal would be the confiscation of frozen assets and which are intended to end up as military expenditures in Ukraine,” Fico emphasized.

The prime minister also cautioned that using the frozen assets could spark billion-euro arbitration cases, creating significant challenges for EU member states.

He cited Belgium, whose government has warned that such a move might trigger harsh retaliatory actions from Moscow.

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