Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. Russia will soon exchange its ambassador to Slovakia. European socialists kick out Smer from among their ranks. Police launch an investigation into government proxy and anti-vaxxer Peter Kotlár.
If you have a suggestion on how to make this overview better, let me know at michaela.terenzani@spectator.sk.
From Warsaw to Bratislava
It does not happen very often that ambassadors become household names. In Slovakia, this has happened to Igor Bratchikov, the Kremlin’s envoy, who is now leaving the country after about four years in post. His replacement is likely to find a warmer welcome in Slovakia than he has been accustomed to during his most recent posting as ambassador – to neighbouring Poland.
The Russian Embassy has not yet officially announced the change of guard, but the Sme daily confirmed with its sources that Sergei Andreyev is set to take Bratchikov’s place in Slovakia.
Andreyev had served an unusually long time in Warsaw – eleven years, since 2014. He has clashed with Polish governments on multiple occasions. In 2015 he was summoned to explain his claim, made on television, that Poland shared responsibility for the outbreak of World War II (he stated that his words had been taken out of context).
After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, he defended what he insisted on calling – in line with Kremlin dogma – the “special military operation” and, when a Russian missile violated Polish airspace in 2024, he brazenly failed to turn up to an appointment with the Polish minister.
