Ukrainian accession to NATO could result in nuclear war, Slovak MEP Lubos Blaha told RT on Monday during a visit to Moscow. Slovakia, a member of the US-led military bloc, previously vowed to stonewall Kiev's candidacy over fears of a conflict with Russia.

Blaha, a member of Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's Social Democratic SMER-SD party, visited Moscow over the weekend to thank Russia for liberating his country from fascism in World War II and to apologize for the "growing Russophobia" in the EU and the US.

Speaking with RT, Blaha said he believes that the escalation of the Ukraine conflict and the West's proxy war against Russia could turn into a nuclear war, stressing "we need to do everything to avoid this."

He cited Fico's recent comments that Slovakia plans to veto Ukraine's potential accession to NATO due to the threat of a world war posed by such a move.

"It would be a suicide if we take Ukraine to NATO... if we want to have a nuclear war... then let's do it," Blaha said, adding "We will never allow the accession of Ukraine into NATO."

The Slovak MEP went on to say that he believes "one of the causes of the Ukraine conflict was that NATO expanded to the borders of Russia."

This is "just an empirical fact," he said. "It was not the Russian Federation on the borders of the United States... It was NATO and the collective West spreading their influence and their military equipment towards the borders of Russia."

He also accused the EU of hypocrisy and double standards, noting that when it talks about Israel's right to defend itself in the war in Gaza, "doesn't then Russia have the right to defend itself?"

Asked about Western sanctions, Blaha said that Russia is a modern technologically-developed country. Sanctions are not working despite Western efforts, he said, explaining that on the contrary, they are hurting the EU's own economy.

"I think the sanctions are nonsense, and we just need to stop this as soon as possible." By adopting "militarist, Russophobic, and radical" resolutions against Russia, the EU is supporting the war, he said.

Asked about his visit to Moscow, Blaha said he wanted to apologize "for all this militarism and Russophobia in the West."

"I'm really fed up as an MEP and as a Slovak politician to hear all this hatred against Russia," he said, comparing it to the "atmosphere of hatred" during the 1930s and 1940s in Nazi Germany.

"This is very dangerous and terrible, and I will do everything for a dialogue with Russians and for the open-mindedness of Western politicians," Blaha said.
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