Fico makes first speech since attack

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico on Friday 5 July gave his first public appearance since being seriously injured in an assassination attempt. Fico was shot by Juraj Cintula, a 71-year-old writer and political activist after a government meeting in Handlova on 15 May, since when he has had two operations.

Pro-Russia Fico regained power in September, and halted miltary funding to Ukraine in January. Slovak Defence Minister Robert Kalinak said on June 30 that Fico is gradually getting closer to returning to his duties. 

Fico criticised progressive liberal ideologies, saying they were “spreading like cancer. I don’t want Slovakia to be among the countries that caricature Western civilization,” he added. 

Fico rare voice of support for ‘peacenik’ Orban

Fico praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who last week visited both Moscow, Russia and Kyiv, Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Orban’s calls for a ceasefire.

On Saturday Fico wrote on Facebook “yesterday I expressed my support for the peace initiative of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who visited Kyiv and Moscow in a short time. 

“The conflict in Ukraine has no military solution. I am one of the politicians who support an immediate ceasefire and the beginning of peace talks with the participation of Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the US, China and the EU.

“If another escalation of tensions is prioritised before peace negotiations, let us not be surprised by the new, much more terrible quality of war conflict in Ukraine.

“Peace cannot be achieved by any ultimatums or by applying unrealistic conditions. Peace negotiations will be extremely difficult, but for the whole world it will be best if the coming months, perhaps years of killing each other, were replaced by months of difficult negotiations that would lead to just peace. It would extremely dynamize negotiations on Ukraine’s entry into the EU, which the Slovak Republic fully supports,” Fico added.