MOSCOW, March 10. /TASS/. Slovakia is ready to become a host for negotiations between Russia and Ukraine, Lubos Blaha, a member of the European Parliament from Slovakia, told TASS in an interview.
He was asked if Slovakia would like to become a platform for the next round of Russian-US negotiations. "Of course, we would be happy," he said, noting at the same time that Slovakia is too small a country "for many, many things."
Blaha added that nevertheless there have been cases in history when small states, such as Norway, have become a venue for such negotiations. "If there is a possibility to host any meetings between Russians and Ukrainians in the future, or Russians and others in the future, we are prepared to provide everything that we can do."
According to Blaha, the main negotiations, including between Russia and the United States, will take place in the countries "far away from this conflict, like Saudi Arabia." "We can be a host country for maybe a lower level of some negotiations. This would be, I think, very pragmatic, rational, and possible. And I remember the speech of Mr. [Russian] President [Vladimir] Putin, who said that Slovakia could be in this sense very, very useful," he said.
"Our philosophy is peaceful. We will do everything we can to make peace between Europe and Russia. Because we think that Russia, especially we in Slovakia, we think that Russia is a friend, Russia is a partner, and we need to cooperate with it," Blaha said.
"But this is the question for the big boys in the room," while " the biggest boys in the room are Mr. Trump, Mr. Putin, and maybe some European leaders." However, the latter, he explained, "are not very happy" with Slovakia's position on the conflict in Ukraine.