Slovak PM Fico at center of controversy for appearing on Russian TV

Brussels – It is no longer just Viktor Orbán who is undermining the unity of the Twenty-Seven vis-à-vis Vladimir Putin‘s Russia. Now the Kremlin’s Trojan horses in the EU are at least two, as the Hungarian premier has been joined by his Slovak counterpart Robert Fico. Who ended up at the centre of a political storm (domestic and international) for an interview he gave to the TV station Rossija 1, one of the Russian regime’s propaganda channels, in which he disavowed the position of the Western partners with respect to the war in Ukraine.

Former prime minister Igor Matovič, a member of Slovakia, a populist centre-right opposition party, defined him “a horrible treacherous

ferret.” The premier and leader of SMER—a party (from which Slovakia’s eternal commissioner Maroš Šefčovič also comes) that calls itself progressive but was suspended from the Socialist Europeans in October 2023 following the erosion of the rule of law in Bratislava—Robert Fico appeared Wednesday (Oct. 30) on the 60 Minutes political talk show hosted on Rossija 1 by Olga Skabeeva. The journalist, who is under sanctions from the EU and the United States, is also known as “the iron doll of Putin’s TV” for her harsh criticism of Russian opposition and Western countries.

In his interview, the Slovak chief executive accused what is technically his Western allies of “prolonging the war” in Ukraine through their support for Kyiv, dismissed as “ineffective” the restrictive measures imposed against Moscow and declared himself ready to negotiate with Putin himself to seek a solution to the conflict. “The EU says to the Ukrainians: Here are your weapons, here is your money, fight, just don’t bother us, we don’t want to have anything more to do with this war,” Fico said in a pre-recorded message, adding that he is considering travelling to the Russian capital next May 9 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the victory over Nazi Germany in World War II (in the bloody campaign on the Eastern Front, which the Russians call the Great Patriotic War and which saw the Red Army drive back the Wehrmacht as far as Berlin).

As expected, Fico’s appearance on the Putin regime’s propaganda channels has uncovered a quagmire in Slovak politics, with the opposition taking to the barricades to attack the premier. Progressive Slovakia’s leader, Michal Šimečka, has labelled Fico’s interview as a “disgrace,” while Freedom and Solidarity MP Juraj Krúpa condemned it as an “unprecedented” gesture.

But the echo of Fico’s words has crossed Slovak borders. For Czech MEP Danuše Nerudová (EPP), the head of the government in Bratislava confirmed to be “a threat to European security.” And, of course, Ukraine didn’t take it well either: “Fico can move to Moscow if he loves Russia so much,” commented on X MP Oleksiy Goncharenko.