“A Journey across Russia”. That is the title former dissident and Christian Democratic Movement (KDH) chair Ján Čarnogurský chose for his new blog describing a recent trip to occupied Ukraine.
In September, he visited two cities in the Donetsk Oblast: Mariupol, destroyed and occupied by Russian forces since May 2022, and Horlivka, under occupation since 2014. A supporter of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Čarnogurský also took part in a military drill, firing a weapon and piloting a drone, according to the Sme daily.
The former Slovak prime minister (1991-1992) was invited by a Russian civic organisation.
Reiterating Kremlin narratives
“In mid-September, ten participants from eight countries and three continents gathered in Moscow. We headed to the traditional Russian Donbass by minibus,” Čarnogurský wrote in his blog.
In Horlivka, he visited a ruined house, allegedly destroyed by a rocket made in the United Kingdom. He blamed the suffering of those who remained in the city on NATO. At the same time, he claimed that although the front line had shifted westward, “the problem is that NATO supplies Ukraine with long-range ammunition, making cities further east suffer.”
Čarnogurský did not mention that Russian forces send drones and missiles into Ukrainian residential areas on a daily basis. By focusing on a single incident, he created the impression that civilians suffer primarily due to Ukraine’s continued defense rather than Russian aggression.
From there, he moved to a training site near Mariupol, where he fired a full magazine from a submachine gun and piloted a drone.
According to his account, he trained with a 1,000-strong Russian unit composed of former Ukrainian soldiers—some captured, others defecting to the Russian side. These men, he said, had been mobilised or taken from streets and shops. The SME daily noted that involuntary mobilisation is a frequent argument used against the Ukrainian command, while Čarnogurský omitted the widespread use of forced mobilisation by Russia itself.
A supporter of Putin
He concluded the blog by repeating a familiar Kremlin narrative: that “two close nations were led into a fratricidal war and are not allowed to get out, while others risk being drawn in as well.” Although he did not name specific actors, his statement aligns with Russia’s claim that the West is to blame for the war—an argument used to justify its invasion.
The blog posts first appeared on the website of the Slovak-Russian Society, chaired by Čarnogurský. He is also a member of the Valdai Club, a discussion forum that meets annually with Vladimir Putin, and has previously welcomed the Night Wolves motorcycle club—known for its ties to the Kremlin—at the Slavín Memorial in Bratislava.
In recent years, Čarnogurský has given speeches at events organised by Russian cultural and political groups across Europe.
