Slovakia backs US defence pact regardless of opposition throughout Ukraine disaster

Lawmakers in Slovakia narrowly authorized a defence treaty with the United States on Wednesday, making it the final NATO member on the alliance’s japanese frontier to enact such a pact, regardless of rowdy opposition in parliament fuelled by the Ukraine disaster.
The treaty permits US forces to make use of two airports in Slovakia, which shares a brief mountainous border with Ukraine.
Western nations accuse Russia of planning an invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow denies.
Other NATO nations in Eastern Europe have strongly backed a US choice to beef up forces within the area in the course of the standoff with Moscow. But the problem is extra contentious in Slovakia, the place a ballot final month confirmed extra folks blame NATO than Russia for the Ukraine disaster.
The Slovak authorities mentioned the defence cooperation treaty was according to treaties signed by 23 different NATO friends, together with all these on the alliance’s japanese border. It nonetheless wants the president’s signature.
“The agreement is giving us an opportunity to modernise, together with the United States, our defence infrastructure,” Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad mentioned earlier than the vote. “Our allies are guaranteeing our sovereignty. That’s exactly what alliances are about.”

Seventy-nine lawmakers supported the settlement, simply clearing the 76 votes required within the 150-seat parliament.
At one level, pro-government lawmakers held up a Ukrainian flag beneath a Slovak flag. An opposition lawmaker tore it down and ripped the face masks off the person holding it.
It permits the US army to make use of amenities at two Slovak airports at Sliac and Malacky for the following 10 years, together with storage of kit. Troop deployments would nonetheless be topic to parliamentary approval.

Slovakia additionally qualifies for $100 million in US funds.
The parliamentary vote adopted a stormy debate, typically disrupted by opposition lawmakers whistling or blocking the speaker’s area with a Slovak flag.
Opposition chief Robert Fico, whose occasion was in authorities when the treaty was first negotiated, known as the settlement “treacherous, dirty, bad”, and mentioned that these supporting it need Slovakia to be a United States “province”.
An opinion ballot confirmed in January that 44.1% of Slovaks believed NATO and the United States had been accountable for the stress between Russia and Ukraine, whereas 34.7% blamed Russia.