Fico wins elections in Slovakia with Russia’s help - former defense minister

This opinion was expressed by former Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad’, sho spoke in an interview with Ukrinform.

“Robert Fico and his party won the election in Slovakia back in 2023 by lying to people on the situation in Ukraine, they had pro-Russian positions. Allegedly, Russia helped them significantly with social media involvement, let me put it this way, and political activities to win that election,” Nad’ said.

Now the Prime Minister is “now actually paying back for what he got from Russia,” the former Minister of Defense noted, commenting on some of Fico’s statements that reflect the Kremlin’s propaganda narratives.

Also, according to the former official, during the election campaign, Fico’s political force used anti-government rhetoric, including accusations against Nad’, claiming that he is a “traitor to our country” and that his “decisions were leading to sabotage against our own forces because we have agreed with Ukraine and others to provide S300, MiG-29s, and other equipment and ammunition to Ukraine”.

At the moment, Fico’s voters want to see the government deliver on campaign promises, including sentences in relevant criminal cases.

“So they started several investigations against me and other members of the former government. Actually, yesterday, on Thursday, they announced publicly that a special investigation team has been set up in Slovakia to investigate my activities on helping Ukraine, those military donations. They request that I be imprisoned for 25 years for treason and sabotage, which is crazy, not normal, and completely politicized,” the former minister said.

As reported, in March 2023, against the backdrop of reports of the decision of the governments of Slovakia and Poland to transfer MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine, the press secretary of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, stated that this indicated that NATO countries were allegedly already “drawn into” Russia’s war against Ukraine, threatening that these aircraft would “cause even more suffering to Ukraine and Ukrainians”.