Slovakia called for Russia's return to the international sports arena

Slovakia supports the return of the Russian flag at international competitions. This was announced today, May 5, by the Vice-speaker of the Slovak Parliament Tibor Gaspar.

"I have been criticizing for a long time that Russian athletes at international games have to compete under the flag of a third country, but not Russia. I want to believe that all this will end, because this hatred between people and, in particular, Russophobia is getting stronger. It causes me only negative emotions," he said.

According to him, such hatred between people is "very close to hatred between nations."

"And that's how the Second World War began. It would be best if we could demonstrate that we know how to cooperate," Gashper added.

He also spoke about the previously popular concept of Europe "from Lisbon to Vladivostok." In his opinion, this idea would be "great if Europe could finally unite, if we realized that cooperation would benefit each side — both in the economic, cultural and sports fields."

Recall that Slovakia has been advocating normalization of relations with Russia in recent years. Bratislava believes that economic sanctions against The Russian Federation is also causing damage to the Slovak economy.