Welcome to your weekly commentary and overview of news from Slovakia. Slovakia’s S-300 air defence system now protects Ukraine. Kotleba is found guilty, but escapes prison. Hungary’s election results leave an aftertaste. What to do about Russian gas.
Please note that Last Week in Slovakia is taking an Easter break next week. We will be back on Monday, April 25. You can keep up with the news with our daily news digest, Today in Slovakia.
What Heger and the S-300 in Ukraine say about Slovakia
Slovakia’s air defence system is now protecting the skies over Ukraine. The news of the week came only on Friday for Slovakia, when Prime Minister Eduard Heger confirmed that Slovakia was sending its soon-to-be-obsolete, Soviet-designed S-300 missile system to Ukraine.
It was reported to have been the single biggest military system donated to Ukraine by its allies – and more aid from Slovakia is still being discussed. Most notably, the supply of Zuzana 2 Slovak-made howitzers (sidenote to international readers: this piece of military equipment was named long before Zuzana Čaputová was elected president) is on the table, along with the option to repair damaged Ukrainian military technology in Slovakia, and to export its wheat by rail via Slovakia.