Foreign Affairs Minister Ivan Korčok (source: TASR)
Three years after the abduction of a Vietnamese citizen from the European Union onboard a Slovak government plane, Slovakia is again involved in an international scandal.
Slovakia's general consulate in St. Petersburg last summer allowed a Russian citizen into the European Union, suspected of involvement in the murder of a Georgian citizen in Berlin.
The Russian was awarded a one-year visa even though it was under a fake identity. Foreign Affairs Minister Ivan Korčok (SaS nominee) is now sending investigators to St. Petersburg to find out whether it was a failure of the Slovak diplomats or if they directly cooperated with Russian authorities.
"I consider this a grave issue. Not just our security, but that of all Europe is at stake," Korčok said on Wednesday, July 1.
The German prosecutors believe the Russian man participated in the murder of a Georgian citizen of Chechnyan origin, Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, who in the past fought against the Russians in northern Caucasus. Russian President Vladimir Putin branded him a bloodthirsty terrorist in 2012.
The international investigative group Bellingcat links the August 23, 2019 murder of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin with the Russian secret service FSB.
