Ukraine denounces ‘insulting’ joke from Slovakia PM

Ukraine on Thursday reacted furiously to a joke by Slovakia’s prime minister that part of the country should be handed over to Russia in exchange for deliveries of coronavirus vaccines.

In an interview earlier this week with local broadcaster Radio Expres, Slovakian Prime Minister Igor Matovic was asked what he had promised to Russia in exchange for the delivery of its Sputnik V vaccine.

“Ukraine’s Zakarapattia,” he responded, referring to a Ukrainian region bordering his EU member state Slovakia.

The comments sparked an unlikely fallout between the two neighbouring states, which maintain close cultural and political ties.

“This is totally unacceptable,” Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko told AFP.

He said the phrasing was “inappropriate and insulting” in particular after Russia’s “aggression” against Ukraine and “occupation” of parts of its territory.

Kiev and Moscow are at loggerheads after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and the Kremlin buttressed an ongoing separatist insurgency in Ukraine’s east which has claimed more than 13,000 lives.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry had earlier summoned Slovakia’s envoy to express its protest and demand an apology.

On Thursday, Matovic backtracked from his comments, saying: “Slovakia’s position on Ukraine’s territorial integrity has always been very clear”.

“Apologies to all Ukrainians for my inappropriate reaction which could undermine their just efforts,” he wrote on Twitter.

His statement followed apologies earlier Thursday by Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok, who said he had already spoken to his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

“I apologised to him for the inappropriate statements,” Korcok wrote on Facebook.

“I’m all the more sorry that just a few days ago we had an extremely good conversation in Kiev on how to further develop our relations,” he said.

Korcok held talks with Kuleba while visiting Kiev last month. Their two countries have not previously had any significant conflicts.

Slovakia on Monday became the second EU state after Hungary to receive Sputnik doses.

For its part, Ukraine last month banned coronavirus vaccines produced in Russia.

Ukraine has so far received only 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine for its population of 40 million.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, a former comedian, has come under fire for his handling of the pandemic.

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