Good morning.
Maybe I just start with the first question. Do you know more
about Slovenia sending soldiers to Slovakia or other countries?
How many of them will we send?
Slovenia will send a unit of 200 soldiers
to a battalion in Slovakia.
We already made the decision.
We will cooperate with other NATO countries
and we will send a diplomatic mission to Ukraine. The procedures
will be ended today or tomorrow. This is not a military mission
as you wrongly reported. It is a diplomatic mission
under a charge d'affaires that will try
to negotiate for peace, help those who stayed in Kyiv
and try to end war through diplomatic channels.
But this isn't an EU mission? -No, the EU mission
is something else. We are still discussing it
and we will discuss it today. We are sending a charge d'affaires
in the name of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A lot of NATO members think
that there is a big possibility of an attack with chemical weapons.
NATO is worried about it. Will Slovenia send
protective equipment because we are strong in this area?
Slovenia has some capabilities for defence
against chemical and biological weapons, but I think
that such threat
exists when Russian aggressor forces attack chemical plants
and it can come to leaks. But the use
of chemical and biological weapons is highly unlikely
because they would shoot themselves in the foot. -The Secretary General
appealed yesterday for the increase of defence spending.
Slovenia is among the worst countries in this aspect.
Will you increase the defence budget?
Slovenia has been among the worst countries. We passed the law
some time ago in our term
to boost investments in the military.
We will not be among the worst anymore,
but we will need to try harder and we will talk about it today.
Prime Minister, you went to Kyiv by train.
Can you tell us a little bit about that and what did you learn there
that you are going o address today?
Many things. Actually, we went to Kyiv to show our support
for them. I think that there are four things
Ukraine needs the most. One is hope
and that they are not abandoned. The second thing are modern weapons,
the third thing is money to survive in this situation
where the economy is disturbed and the fourth thing is humanitarian aid
and we have been talking about all these issues
very concretely and we have some important messages
for our colleagues today at the NATO and EU summit.
Are you concerned about a chemical weapons attack? -We are concerned
when we see that Russian aggression forces are shelling chemical plants
and similar facilities.
This could trigger a large-scale disaster.
But I don't believe that the Russian military
will use chemical or biological weapons
purposefully for tactical achievements,
because this would be very unwise and a shot in their own knee.
Prime Minister, what about the partner countries,
like Georgia, because Secretary General mentioned
that there will also be discussions about these countries.
Of course, everything we are doing to strengthen Ukraine,
to help Ukraine defend itself,
is also helping Moldova and Georgia.
Speaking about a political response to these challenges,
I think that advanced negotiations regarding EU membership
are also very helpful. And we support it strongly.
You support it? -We support it strongly. -Thank you.
You just mentioned shelling chemical plants.
Is there evidence that Russia is doing that?
There was one case where it was publicly known.
We still don't know if this was done on purpose.
Or if it was collateral damage.
But of course, in every country, Ukraine is not an exception,
we have such industrial facilities inside of the cities
which are under attack.
This can cause a catastrophe,
which is not intentionally caused by using chemical weapons
from the military directly, but by attacking objects
or cities or towns where such facilities are located.
Stoltenberg mentioned yesterday
that if there is a nuclear attack in Ukraine...
It could be, because when such disasters happen,
then the administrative borders are not the limits.
This is why we have to be very careful
when we are speaking about ratlines.
Remember what happened in Syria.
We have to be very clear when we define the situation
where we will consider some acts as a direct attack on the NATO countries.
What about Bosnia? On the Bosnian territory NATO...
Certain defence forces in Bosnia have already been preventively strengthened
following a timely proposal made by Mr. Borell.
At the moment, political tensions exist.
We regret that the negotiations on the new election act collapsed yesterday.
An agreement should be reached.
Currently, we must stop the Russian aggression on Ukraine,
because this is very important for Bosnia as well.
If the war in Ukraine continues,
the consequences of this conflict will be felt everywhere,
especially in that part of the Western Balkans where issues remain unsolved.
Thank you.