Mayor of Smilno Vladimír Baran (l) and former MP Anton Korba (c) donate funds to Russia. (source: Facebook - Russian Embassy in Slovakia)
Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. To Moscow with much affection. The coalition government of Robert Fico strikes against civil society organisations in a new fashion. Meanwhile, the Huliak situation remains unresolved as an upcoming struggle to select the speaker of parliament looms.
If you have a suggestion on how to make this overview better, let me know at michaela.terenzani@spectator.sk.
Two men show what is wrong with Slovakia
Collaborators or useful idiots? Two Slovaks who recently travelled to Moscow on a curious mission may well be a little bit of both. Their love for Russia, authentic or calculated, inspired them to undertake a trip that presented the Kremlin's propagandists with a delicious morsel.
As Ukraine marked one thousand days since the start of Russia's all-out invasion, in the course of which Vladimir Putin's regime has killed thousands of civilians, including hundreds of children, Vladimír Baran and Anton Korba travelled to Moscow to symbolically hand over a giant cheque for €52,000. The sum, which they claimed was raised online and among Slovak citizens, is meant for the inhabitants of the Russian city of Kursk “affected by the actions of the Ukrainian armed forces”.
That quote is taken from the Facebook page of the Russian Embassy in Bratislava whose head, Igor Bratchikov, has met with both men previously in an official capacity – provoking controversy in the eastern Slovak district of Bardejov.
Baran is the mayor of the village of Smilno. Korba is a former MP and a retired member of Slovakia’s armed forces. Both are associated with the Slovak National Party (SNS), currently a junior member of the ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Fico. After they first met with Bratchikov earlier this year, the city of Bardejov distanced itself from Bratchikov’s visit. In Smilno, where Baran is the mayor, someone painted the public benches yellow and blue as a sign of support for Ukraine. When news about Baran and Korba’s trip to Moscow broke, a local councillor from the opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party resigned his mandate in protest.
