Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said he did not want his country drawn into a war “because of some Article 5”, questioning Nato’s mutual defence clause, STVR reported on September 18.

He was speaking at a ceremonial address opening the academic year in Presov, in eastern Slovakia, to an audience of students and hospital staff, and the remarks were reposted on his Facebook page. The sentence in Slovak, as transcribed by broadcaster ta3, was: “Ja si neželám, aby Slovensko bolo súčasťou nejakého vojenského konfliktu kvôli nejakému článku 5.” Kyiv Post rendered the reference as “some Article 5”.

The remarks came as European capitals warned that Russia was probing their defences. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told his parliament on September 17 that Moscow was preparing to step up hybrid attacks on Nato members backing Ukraine.

At the same event Fico praised Slovak membership of the alliance, saying “cooperation matters to us, meeting of obligations”, before adding that as prime minister he would do everything to keep Slovakia from ever being drawn into a military conflict.

“Can anyone imagine that we would be told: Prepare 5,000 soldiers, 10,000 soldiers, and they will go somewhere to fight? And we would not even know with whom, why or for what?” he asked. He did not name Russia as a potential aggressor, accusing European leaders instead of using talk of war to divert attention from illegal migration, weak competitiveness and high energy prices.

Article 5 commits each ally to assist an attacked member by taking “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force”, wording that leaves the size and form of any contribution to the individual capital rather than setting a troop quota.

Slovak soldiers have served on the alliance’s eastern flank in Latvia since 2018. In 2024, Nato began expanding the force into a multinational brigade intended to comprise more than 3,500 troops.

The opposition Christian Democrats said the remarks weakened Slovakia’s credibility. “Article 5 is the foundational pillar of Slovakia’s security. Nato loses its meaning without it,” said the party’s deputy chair Viliam Karas, who called on Fico to explain himself in parliament, Info.sk reported.

Fico’s cabinet ended state military aid to Kyiv within weeks of taking office in 2023, although commercial arms sales by Slovak companies have continued. He said Slovakia did not want to meet the 5% of GDP target agreed at the alliance’s Hague summit in 2025, and Bratislava is holding up the rollover of EU sanctions on about 2,600 Russian individuals and entities, pressing for Alisher Usmanov and Mikhail Fridman to be delisted. Those measures now expire on September 22.

His government has also approved plans to buy four more US F-16s for about €390mn, a purchase the Slovak opposition has criticised.

Fico had been due in Ukraine on September 18 for the first Carpathian summit, but cancelled on health grounds and sent a foreign ministry state secretary in his place, SME reported.