Artillery ammunition. (source: AP/ SITA)
Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. Voting on the Constitution has been postponed until the autumn after parliament closes for the summer. Fico stirs opposition with neutrality talk.
If you have a suggestion on how to make this overview better, let me know at michaela.terenzani@spectator.sk.
What to know about the donated ammunition case
When the police came for the former defence minister last week, they failed to find him at his home. By the time of their visit, he had been in Canada for several days – but on holiday, not in hiding.
Alongside the many questions this has provoked – many of which remain unanswered – the police’s “search” for Jaroslav Naď at his home near Senec has become something of a joke. Do they not even check their targets’ social media? Naď had been broadcasting his plans to make a recreational trip overseas for days beforehand.
The reason why they came for Naď was to question him, along with seven other insiders (or former insiders) from the defence and military sphere in connection with an investigation into how ammunition had been donated to Ukraine in the very first days after Russian missiles began bombarding major Ukrainian cities and its troops began a full-scale invasion of Slovakia’s neighbour in late February 2022. Most analysts predicted Ukraine would be unable to resist Russia’s assault for more than a few days, but almost three and a half years later – in part thanks to foreign assistance – Ukraine remains unbroken.
The reason why the police actions are worrying is that there is a strong political element to the proceedings, one that reeks of revenge.
