BANSKA BYSTRICA
Robert Fico, the populist prime minister of Slovakia, was shot many times on Wednesday and was critically injured, but his deputy prime minister expressed optimism that Fico would live.
Weeks before an election, the attempted assassination shocked the little nation and sent shockwaves across Europe while the prime minister was addressing supporters at an event.
Tomas Taraba told the BBC, “I guess in the end he will survive,” and that he was not in a life-threatening position at the time.
Defense Minister Robert Kalina told reporters at the hospital where pro-Russian leader Fico, 59, was receiving treatment, that doctors battled for his life for several hours after the man’s abdomen was struck.
In the village of Handlova, about 140 kilometers (85 miles) northeast of the capital, five shots were fired outside a cultural institution, according to government officials. The 16,000-person hamlet that was once a coal mining hub saw Fico shot during a municipal meeting.
Assistant Minister of Interior Matus Sutaj Estok briefed reporters alongside the Minister of Defense, stating that a suspect was in custody and that preliminary inquiry had revealed “a clear political motivation” behind the attempted assassination.
Fico’s anti-American, pro-Russian stance
Fico has long been a contentious figure in Slovakia and beyond, but his pro-Russian, anti-American stance upon his return to office last year increased concerns among other EU members that he might steer Slovakia even further away from the West.
His government stopped arms transfers to Ukraine as he began his fourth term as prime minister, and opponents fear he will steer NATO member Slovakia, a country of 5.4 million people, away from its pro-Western path and toward the path taken by populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Hungary.
Thousands have frequently demonstrated against Fico’s policies in Slovakia’s capital and other cities.
Attack occurs before elections to the European Parliament
Fico was transferred to a hospital in Banska Bystrica, 29 kilometers (17 miles) from Handlova, according to a message shared on his Facebook page. The reason for this was that getting to the capital, Bratislava, would take too long.
The incident occurs three weeks before elections to elect members of the European Parliament are held throughout the continent. There is growing concern that nationalists and populists like Fico may gain ground within the 27-member bloc.
However, politics as usual took a backseat as the country dealt with the shock of Fico’s assassination attempt.
Fico’s political foe, departing President Zuzana Caputova, stated on television that “a physical attack on the prime minister is, first of all, an attack on a person, but it is also an attack on democracy.” “Violence of any kind is not accepted. Hateful acts are a direct result of the hateful speech we have been exposed to in our society. Let’s stop it, please.
Shockwave reactions in Slovakia and throughout
Fico’s ally, President-elect Peter Pellegrini, described the attempted murder as “an unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy.” We are endangering all we have worked so hard to create over the past 31 years of Slovak autonomy if we carry firearms in public squares instead of polling places to voice our differing political viewpoints.”
Deep societal divisions have been highlighted by the recent elections that propelled Fico and his allies to power; these divisions have been made worse by the conflict in Ukraine, Slovakia’s eastern neighbor.
Political writer Gabor Czimer of the Slovakian news site Ujszo.com noted that the findings demonstrated that “Slovak society was strongly split into two camps”—one that advocates for closer ties to Russia and another that wants to forge closer ties with the West and the EU.
“At the same time, I couldn’t imagine that it would lead to physical violence,” Czímer stated.
Outside the hospital, Slovak Interior Minister Estok told reporters that the nation was “on the edge of a civil war” due to political unrest.
“Such hateful comments are being made on social networks today, so please, let’s stop this immediately,” added the politician.
American President Joe Biden expressed concerns. In a statement, he stated, “We condemn this horrific act of violence.”
“Shocked and appalled” by the attempt on Fico’s life, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg wrote on social media platform X. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, referred to it as a “vile attack.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, condemned the violence directed against the head of state of a neighboring nation.