Slovakia, a country of 5.4 million people, joined NATO and the European Union in 2004.

Fico, who fosters close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, leads a nationalist three-party coalition government that is torn over defence spending.

His cabinet has rejected military aid to war-ravaged Ukraine with Fico calling for peace talks instead.

Next week's NATO summit in The Hague is expected to agree a major increase in defence spending under pressure from US President Donald Trump.

Fico said that "neutrality would suit Slovakia in these senseless times of armament".

Later on, he added that Slovakia should increase defence spending to five percent of gross domestic product (GDP), as proposed by Trump, or leave NATO.

Fico likened NATO to a golf club whose members pay fees to play.

"Either we pay the new membership fee, at least with the caveat that we use the defence money as we see fit, mainly for dual purpose projects such as hospitals and roads, or we leave NATO," Fico said.

Slovakia has been spending two percent of GDP on defence, in line with NATO's current guidelines, since 2022.

Fico added that Slovakia "should not be part of any military adventures" and suggested that it cannot afford the increase in defence spending.

He said Slovak citizens should make the final decision, without elaborating.

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini, Fico's ally, for once broke ranks with the premier, calling him "an expert in cluttering up the public space with a topic that we will all discuss for 20 days and there will be no result".

"Our neutrality would be several times more expensive than our membership of NATO," Pellegrini added.