Slovakia: ex-PM Fico berates Zelensky

Robert Fico, former Slovak prime minister and current leader of the leftist opposition party Smer, demonstratively left a parliamentary meeting during a live speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, calling Zelensky a 'warmonger' and a 'liar'. Slovakian commentators are outraged.

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Pravda (SK) /

Compass has gone astray

Fico has disgraced Slovakia and the Social Democrats with his cynical ignorance, Pravda fumes:

“Russia invaded Ukraine for no reason and is killing innocent people there, not the other way around. These are the basic facts. If some of our social democrats from the Fico-led Smer party don't understand them, then there's a serious problem. ... Where does Fico belong? With European social democracy or the far right? ... Ukraine is counting on help. Also from Slovakia, which President Zelensky has duly acknowledged. In June there will even be a conference in Bratislava on the reconstruction of Ukraine. Let's hope that Fico and some social democrats will have found their compass by then.”

Denník N (SK) /

Clearly on the wrong side

Fico has now openly backed Putin, Denník N argues:

“What he has done fits in perfectly with his actions of the last months and even years, but is nevertheless the culmination of his decoupling from decent society. This he has now officially admitted. ... It is so easy to distinguish between good and evil in the case of the war in Ukraine that only a fool or a politician who has chosen the future of an autocrat could side with evil. ... By demonstratively rejecting Zelensky, Fico backed Putin. There is no in-between.”