A very important component of the policy of Fico’s fourth government is its pro-Russian stance. Not only in words, but also in deeds, the cabinet is making wrinkles on the forehead not only of democratic society in Slovakia, but also of the country’s neighbours and its partners in the EU and NATO.
Long before the 2023 election campaign, statements by members of the Směr-SD party were already attracting attention. In addition to the obligatory criticism of Brussels, they added to the furnace of hatred the defence of right-wing extremists, anti-Roma and anti-LGBT+ narratives, and hatred of the West as such. The latter, according to the representatives of the Direction-SD, is Sunni, green bigoted, homophobic and generally corrupt. Often this sounds almost identical to the long-promoted Kremlin propaganda narratives that trolls from Russia have successfully spread across Europe.
However, this was not unusual in Slovakia either. It was obvious that the party was reorienting itself towards a right-wing extreme and anti-system voter base, which is why most observers considered this rhetoric to be just part of preference chasing. However, suspicions that there might be more to it began to emerge during the covid crisis, when the party organised anti-system rallies at which, in addition to questioning the existence of covid and covid measures, slogans were raised against the West in general, pharmaceutical companies, institutions and the system, according to speakers driven by the interests of Brussels and Washington.
Months before the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian hordes, Russian and Soviet flags were already flying at the rallies of Smer-SSD (the party added Smer – Slovak Social Democracy to its name instead of Smer – Social Democracy until then) and the speakers were talking about it, how the West intends to continue oppressing Russia and that the ignorance of Western structures will lead to the suppression of the Russian-speaking population by Ukrainian fascists who refuse to accept the “free decision” of the population of eastern Ukraine to join Russia. Defending Russia’s claim to Crimea has become obligatory equipment for the members of the Smer-SD, and some of them were even the staff of the fake referendum in the occupied territories in the form of “independent” international observers invited by the Kremlin.
Advocacy of Russian interests gained momentum after the previous Slovak government pushed for the development of military cooperation with the US in the form of US investment in Slovak military infrastructure under the DCA. In 2021 and 2022, the Smer-SD party protested vehemently, talking in the media about US soldiers raping women and bringing nuclear bombs to Slovakia. The party allied itself with the far-right Republic and billboards appeared in Slovak cities bearing the names of photographs of MPs promoting DCA, labelled as traitors. Where the money for the campaign came from is still unclear.
That Smer has become the most powerful weapon of the Kremlin’s propaganda and executive power in Slovakia was obvious just before Russia unleashed a full-scale war in Ukraine. When Western states loudly warned that an invasion was a matter of weeks away, Smer-SD would fly inflated paper doves of peace at rallies with Russian flags, talk about the West wanting to start the war, and chant loud slogans in Russian thanking Russia for its friendship.
Unfortunately, this did not change even after the outbreak of the war. Not only Smer-SD but also its coalition partners repeat in every media appearance a series of propaganda arguments why Russia was entitled to start the war. They also repeat calls to stop all aid to Ukraine.
The prime minister and the foreign minister themselves repeated that Ukraine is not a sovereign country and even denied that Russian aggression was visible in Kiev. They describe NATO allies as aggressors and the real instigators of the war. Fico even added that the war was engineered by the West in order to murder the Slavs.
In its pro-Kremlin rhetoric, the Slovak government after 2023 quickly overtook another pro-Russian Trojan horse in the EU, Hungary. The countries jointly promise to block and obstruct EU decisions on security policy or aid to the embattled Ukraine. The rhetoric, in turn, is helping to turn the Slovak population – as many as two-thirds of voters in the governing coalition would be willing to vote for the country to leave the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation or the European Union. Robert Fico and the entire government continue to hold various public events where they invite the Russian and Belarusian ambassadors. On the anniversary of the Slovak National Uprising, a military parade was cancelled on the grounds that Western tanks in the Slovak army’s armoury were also due to appear in public.
In diplomacy, Fico’s executive branch is actively helping to hide Russian hybrid threats. In the European Union, it lobbied for the removal of Slovak Jozef Hambálek from the European sanctions list. For years, Hambálek has provided the European headquarters for the pro-Kremlin organization Night Wolves. The government provided diplomatic protection to pro-Russian Ukrainian businessman Artyom Marchevsky. The Czech BIS and foreign intelligence services have revealed that the media outlet and its channels were financed by the Kremlin to spread propaganda. In addition, politicians in several European Union countries were corrupted through the company. From Slovakia, thanks to the activity of the Fico government, Voice of Europe can continue. However, it is likely that this is only a small extension that will stop international pressure.
The answer to the question of why Slovakia, which wanted to join the core of the European Union a few years ago, has become the Kremlin’s Trojan horse is offered by a series of revelations that prove that the activities of Slovak politicians were financed by the Russian military intelligence service GRU. Investigations have shown that editors and owners of some disinformation websites, which included assistants to MPs and other politicians, accept cash in return for more “fishing” among politicians and public officials. Pavel Bučka, the vice-rector of the Military Academy in Ruzomberok, also took money from the Russians. He has even been shown to have divulged classified information to the Russian side about the deployment of military garrisons on Slovak territory. The result? A suspended sentence and a financial penalty. Similarly symbolic sentences were handed down in the case of other collaborators of the Russian secret service.
Indications that the Kremlin is not only funding selected individual politicians, but indirectly supporting the campaigns of entire parties, have appeared and are appearing all the time. For example, some of the well-known disinformation media collaborators have made significant financial donations to anti-system political parties, even when their financial backgrounds did not correspond. However, these suspicions have never been uncovered and the public is completely unaware of them.
To a large extent, this is the result of the efforts of political leaders. In addition to downplaying the above-described acts and actively protecting pro-Russian trolls and agents, they are deliberately making the security services dysfunctional – from intelligence services to police bodies fighting extremism and cyber threats to the abolition of government bodies dedicated to fighting disinformation, cybercrime and influence operations by foreign powers.
In addition to Russia, the Fico government is focusing on developing cooperation with China. Robert Fico proudly announces a future partnership with the Chinese, for example, in the completion of the road and rail network, which his governments have allowed to fall into disrepair over the past twenty years. The government ignores the negative effects of Chinese influence and the repeated failures of Chinese investment in other European countries.
