A potentially undesirable development for Ukraine could be the upcoming elections on September 30 in Slovakia andAs the favorite to win, populist former prime minister Robert Fico is against sending arms to Ukraine and openly supports Moscow’s arguments.

According to Reuters, before about 300 of his supporters at a political rally last week in the western Slovakian town of Banovce nad Bebravou, Robert Fico said “we are a peaceful country. We will not send a single round to Ukraine».

If he keeps his promise, it will mark a sea change for Slovakia, until now a staunch ally of its eastern neighbor, Ukraine, in its war against Russia. Bratislava supplied weapons and offered strong political support to Kiev within the European Union and NATO.

“They should sit down anyway and find an agreement,” Fico said. “Russia will never leave Crimeahe will never leave the lands he controls.”

Fico is not sure he will win. No party is expected to secure a majority and forming a coalition government could prove difficult. Western diplomats and officials in Kiev believe that a small country like Slovakia cannot go so far in overturning EU and NATO policy.

However, the 59-year-old attacks Brussels and not only, criticizing the sanctions against Russia, calling for rapprochement with Moscow when the war is over and pledges to veto Ukraine’s NATO membership when the time comes.

On the campaign trail, Fico said the war “started in 2014 when Ukrainian Nazis and fascists started murdering Russian citizens in Donbass and Luhansk,” echoing Moscow’s justification for supporting separatists who have seized land in eastern Ukraine.