“A liar and a fraud”: Slovak student explains why he did not shake hands with the president

Slovak schoolboy Simon Omanik, who refused to shake hands with Slovak President Peter Pellegrini while wearing Ukrainian symbols, explained the reason for his action. He provided the explanation to the Slovak publication Dennik N.

Omanik accused Slovak President Pellegrini of winning the presidential election by “deceiving and lying to people,” in particular, by manipulating the topic of the war in Ukraine.

“In addition to the ever-populist promises of cheap food and cheap gas that populists repeat in every election, he also accused his opponent of sending us to war in Ukraine. He would never send us to war, and even if he did, he would not have any rational justification for it,” Simon Omanik said.

Peter Pellegrini, an ally of pro-Russian Prime Minister Robert Fico, won the election in the spring of 2024 against pro-Ukrainian candidate Ivan Korčok, who was painted as a “war candidate” during the campaign.

“It was a lie and an attempt on the lowest human instincts of fear and perhaps even anti-Ukrainian sentiment in some parts of the Slovak population. And I don’t think it would be right to shake hands with such a person or communicate with him because I don’t agree with him and consider him a fraud and a liar,” the Slovak student added.

Simon Omanik received the bronze medal award at the Central European Mathematics Olympiad from the hands of the Minister of Education Tomas Drucker. When the minister invited Omanik to shake hands with President Pellegrini, who was standing nearby, he refused – even though the president had already extended his hand to shake. At the same time, Omanik put a ribbon in the colors of the Ukrainian flag on his jacket.

Last week, Peter Pellegrini said that he refused to go on an official visit to Kyiv because Ukraine had stopped transiting Russian gas. Slovak Prime Minister criticized Ukraine’s decision not to prolongue the deal with Russia, and went to Moscow for talks with Putin.

In December, Pellegrini claimed that Ukraine would need to make territorial concessions to achieve peace.