What a debate with pro-Russian agitators looks like

Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. Ministers faced a pro-Russian crowd. Heger now leads the upcycled Democrats, while Dzurinda starts from scratch. Smer files criminal complaints against opinion writers.

How to talk in front of a booing crowd

There was so much booing and shouting from the audience that the host could hardly hear her guests, and was often forced to improvise. A noisy pro-Russian group that mingled with the crowd during the debate of two government ministers in eastern Slovakia gave an apt example of what a debate with pro-Russian agitators looks like. It begged the question: is it worth talking to such people at all?

Acting Foreign Minister Rastislav Káčer and acting Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď met on stage in the eastern-Slovak town of Michalovce for another in a series of live-streamed debates that the Foreign Ministry started organising under the previous minister, Ivan Korčok, as a channel to communicate with the public. They came to talk about the Russian aggression in Ukraine and its impact on Slovakia, and, as expected, were faced with a crowd that included a loud, pro-Russian element.