On March 7, tens of thousands of people took to the streets across Slovakia to protest the pro-Russian policies of Prime Minister Robert Fico.
According to the organizers, the protesters gathered in more than 50 cities in the country and abroad. Anti-Fico rallies were held in cities of the neighboring countries, in Krakow, Poland, and Prague, Czechia.
In the Slovak capital, Bratislava, over 10 thousand people were on the streets to protest against Fico’s policies, DennikN reported.
The rally participants called Fico “a traitor” and said that “Slovakia is Europe.” “Shame, shame,” people chanted in Bratislava’s Freedom Square.
Fico, who survived an assassination attempt in May 2024, has faced calls to resign over his comments on Slovakia’s future EU and NATO membership and statements that Russia had security reasons for invading Ukraine. Such claims may serve as a justification for Russian war aggression, while the EU provides military support to Kyiv to counter the Russian invasion.
The protesters also condemned the recent pro-Russian activities of Fico’s close associates. In particular, they condemned the statements of Erik Kaliňák, who said that Slovakia would “finally have a reliable neighbor” if Russian troops invaded Ukraine.
Luboš Blaha, a leading member of Fico’s party, met this week with Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service. During one of his trips to Moscow, he stated that “the West is losing and Russia is winning.”
The anti-Fico rallies were also held in Slovakia in previous months, in February, and in January.
Fico’s views on Russia are sharply different from the European mainstream. He has cut off Slovakia’s military aid to Ukraine, criticized EU sanctions against Russia, and vowed to block Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
Fico declared Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy an enemy after Ukraine stopped transiting Russian gas to Slovakia. The agreement, as it was expected, expired on December 31, 2024, and the Ukrainian government did not extend it to prevent Russia from generating funds to finance the war in Ukraine.
