Slovak foreign ministry claims Russia interfered in latest elections

Slovakia’s Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Igor Bratchikov to explain claims made by Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Director Sergei Naryshkin two days before the elections, that there was a US plot to put progressives in the lead.

In the statement, which was published on 28 September during an election moratorium, Naryshkin alleged the US had instructed their European allies to use “pressure, blackmail, intimidation, bribery“ to make sure Progressive Slovakia won the election.

“The Ministry strongly protests against the false statement of the Russian intelligence service, which calls into question the integrity of the free and democratic elections in Slovakia,” the Slovak foreign ministry said in response, adding that it considers “such deliberately disseminated disinformation to be unacceptable interference by the Russian Federation in the electoral process”.

In the end, it was not Progressive Slovakia that took home the election, but Robert Fico’s party, Smer, which promised to end military support for Ukraine. Fico’s rhetoric on Ukraine is causing a rift with the Party of European Socialists, whose leader said he would start the process of expelling Smer if it continued with the rhetoric in government.

Fico said it was a price he was “willing to pay”.

Disinformation campaigns on social media targeting Progressive Slovakia in the run-up to the election included an AI-generated video of its leader, Michal Šimečka, promising to raise beer prices.

Both Šimečka and Fico are now trying to persuade other political parties to form a government.

Kingmaker Hlas, led by Smer defector Peter Pellegrini, has sent mixed signals about its intentions but has said that one of its priorities is not to change Slovakia’s foreign policy orientation.

Smer’s pro-Russian stance was the elephant in the room during Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič’s appointment hearings in the European Parliament.

Nominated by Smer, Šefčovič promised in his new position as Green Deal ambassador that he would make no exceptions in convincing member states to end their energy dependence on Russia.

(Barbara Zmušková | Euractiv.sk)