Slovakia hopes EU will not plunge into conflict in Ukraine — senior lawmaker

MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/. Slovakia hopes that the European Union will not plunge into the Ukrainian conflict, deputy speaker of the Slovak parliament, Tibor Gaspar, told TASS. "President [of the US Donald] Trump is hinting quite unequivocally that on the one hand, he will withdraw some of the troops from Europe, and on the other hand, he talks about lesser investment in joint arming," he said. "That is why the European Union is responding with plans to begin increasing spending on weapons." The question, according to Gaspar, is "whether this is being done only to preserve the quality of the European Union’s defensive capabilities or there are plans to get into the war, for instance, on the part of Ukraine, in other words, to enter this conflict." "I hope and I believe that this will not happen. Because we keep on saying: it’s better to invest money in healthcare, schools, and economy rather than in weapons," he stressed. NATO, which Slovakia is a member of, "never stops saying that it is a defensive alliance," he noted. "The military build-up in Europe is explained by an alleged threat from Russia. There is a controversial and far-fetched debate about whether or not to invest in weapons. This is heavily influenced by the current behavior of the United States, which is a NATO member."