Russia threatened Slovakia over Ukraine damages pact, report says

Moscow allegedly pressured Slovakia into backing out of a multilateral agreement on Ukraine's war reparations and damage claims, according to a Slovak news outlet. The opposition reported this on September 1, citing anonymous politicians. Slovakia, along with Hungary and Bulgaria, remains one of the few EU countries that have not joined the agreement for an International Claims Commission for Ukraine.

The mechanism was established in The Hague in December 2025 to consider claims seeking compensation for war-related damage, with 40 parties, including the EU as a bloc, signing the document. Slovakia was reportedly ready to sign the agreement in July, but Prime Minister Robert Fico halted the process. A threatening phone call was made to the Slovak Embassy in Moscow on July 10 by Andrei Sharashkin, a Russian Foreign Ministry official responsible for Slovakia and neighboring countries.

The Kremlin reportedly did not attach much importance to the call. The agreement was scheduled to be discussed at a government meeting on August 26, but Fico personally interrupted the discussion and moved on to the next item. The Slovak government denies removing the document from the agenda, stating it was postponed to gather more information about its implementation.