Fico returns to pro-Putin rhetoric, distancing Slovakia from EU and NATO allies

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has quickly abandoned a brief softening of his stance toward Kyiv and returned to pro-Putin rhetoric, according to the opinion piece. The author argues that Fico's image makeover was short-lived and that his government is again distancing Slovakia from its closest EU and NATO partners. The reversal is seen as a return to isolating Bratislava within the European alliance.