Kiev rejects Fico's claims of participation in protests in Slovakia

Kiev/Bratislava, 29 January - Ukraine has rejected Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico's claim that it participated in the protests in Slovakia. Kiev considers this absurd and accused Fico of trying to "shift responsibility for his own failures in domestic politics to foreign states and leaders". The statement was published by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry on its website before midnight on Tuesday.

"At a time of declining confidence in Slovak society and protests against his pro-Russian course, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has resorted to looking for enemies and found them ... in Ukraine," the Ukrainian ministry said. According to the ministry, Fico should not look for the culprits of his own failures abroad, "but in the mirror".

The statement from the Ukrainian diplomatic ministry further said that Kiev has repeatedly warned "from the danger of pro-Russian policies promoted by the Slovak leadership". The Ukrainian ministry also accused Fico and unnamed Slovak National Council officials of "they have succumbed to Russian propaganda, have stopped distinguishing between black and white, and label representatives of neighboring friendly democratic states as 'enemies'."

"We are convinced that such a step and Robert Fico's policy are contrary to the decision of the Slovak people to be an integral part of the European community," said the diplomatic department in Kiev.

Last Thursday and Friday, demonstrations with tens of thousands of participants took place in several Slovak cities, which organized by the civic association Peace Ukraine. According to the organizers, people gathered to express their disapproval of the country's drift toward authoritarianism and to demonstrate their support for democratic values and Slovakia's European future.

Fico subsequently said on Saturday's STV Dialogues that Ukrainian citizens are also taking part in the anti-government protests in Slovakia, which he said account for up to one-third of the participants.

Last Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky released information about the protests in Slovakia on social network X and wrote his own commentary in Slovak: "Bratislava is not Moscow. Slovakia is Europe."

TASR/ gnews - RoZ