(source: SME.sk / Hej,ty)
Good evening. The Tuesday, March 29 edition of Today in Slovakia is ready with the main news of the day in less than five minutes.
Slovakia marks 18th anniversary of joining NATO
Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď (left) and Foreign Affairs Minister Ivan Korčok (right) (source: TASR)
Slovakia joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on March 29, 2004. In light of the war in Ukraine, it turns out that joining NATO was one of the most
important events in the modern history of Slovakia, Foreign Minister Ivan Korčok (SaS nominee) stated. Slovakia has shown over the years that it is a responsible and sound ally that contributes to the collective security of the entire Alliance, he added.
"Joining NATO was our own, sovereign and free decision, by which we clearly expressed that we belong to the West and to the values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law, and by which we obtained the highest possible security guarantees," Korčok said.
The minister added that the security and stability that NATO membership has brought to Slovakia have become the basic pillars of Slovakia's economic, social and democratic development.
Slovakia's accession to NATO was one of the most important decisions in Slovakia's history, according to Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď.
"The alliance, which is based on the principle of one for all, all for one, is Slovakia's greatest possible guarantee of security and defence of the Slovak Republic," Naď said. "It is our duty to be a strong and stable link in the chain, so that no one will dare to break it," said Naď.
He is certain that if Slovakia were not a member of NATO, the Russian aggressor would be looking directly our way.
State relies on armament company with ties to Russia
MiG-29 (source: TASR)
Even though Smer has not been part of the country’s government for two years already, it seems that a company formerly owned by an oligarch described as a close friend of Smer chair Robert Fico is still successfully doing business with the state.
During the Smer-led governments, the Willing company, owned at the time by Miroslav Výboh, who is facing corruption-related charges, kept receiving orders worth millions of euros.
Since the year 2020, when the government changed and the Defence Ministry was given to the senior coalition party Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO), the department has signed five contracts worth more than €500,000 with the firm. It secures the supplies of spare parts and the repairs of MiG-29 jets.
Willing has been benefiting from the dependence of the Slovak army on Russian state companies that have become a direct security threat for Slovakia since the war in Ukraine.
Even though the state pays dozens of millions of euros to the Russian state company RSK MiG to service the Russian jets, Willing is making money on repairs, too, as it is a representative of the Russian firm in Slovakia.
Refugees from Ukraine
The Education Ministry launched a register of schools in Slovakia ready to accept Ukrainian schoolkids, also with capacity on how many they can enrol. The register is available in both Ukrainian and Slovak.
55,881 Ukrainians have asked for temporary protection in Slovakia.
The state will provide a financial contribution to those people who accommodated Ukrainian refugees. Learn here who is entitled and how to receive funding.
Speaker of Parliament Boris Kollár (Sme Rodina) met Ukrainian Ambassador Yurii Mushka, mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov and members of Verkhovna Rada, Maria Mezentseva and Olena Khomenko. Kollár thanked Ukraine that the country is also fighting for us and said that it is our moral duty to help Ukraine with humanitarian and military aid. President Zuzana Čaputová and PM Eduard Heger met with Ukrainian politicians as well. "Today, the entire civilised world should behave like Slovakia is behaving," said Fedorov.
(source: TASR)
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Photo of the day
Environmentalists and volunteers are busy these days helping with the migration of frogs and toads. The volunteers in the photos helped almost 2,000 toads, which would otherwise have been hit by a car as they migrated from the forests between Skalka nad Váhom and Zamarovce (Trenčín Region) to the Váh River to mate.
Feature story for today
As a little boy, I imagined dying heroically in World War II by diving bravely in front of a bullet directed at a girl I had a crush on at the time.
The young Russian boy’s romantic ideas were amply supported not only by Soviet cinema but the music scene as well. Only later did images of women raped by Russian soldiers and the brutality of the war begin to appear in movies. Russians feel that they saved Europe from fascism and that Europe has not thanked them enough for it.
In other news
The head of Slovak diplomacy, Ivan Korčok (SaS nominee), received on Tuesday the Governor of the US State of Indiana, Eric Holcomb, who is paying an official visit to Slovakia. The aim of the visit was, among other things, to examine Slovakia's needs regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including humanitarian aspects and defence cooperation. "I very much appreciate the visit by Governor Holcomb at such a crucial geopolitical time, when many red lines of international norms are being crossed by the Russians," Korčok said.
6,557 people were newly diagnosed as Covid positive out of 15,288 PCR tests performed on Monday. The number of people in hospitals is 2,205. 19 more deaths were reported on Monday. The vaccination rate is at 51.27 percent, 2,819,721 people having received the first dose of the vaccine. More stats on Covid-19 in Slovakia here.
Former head of the Penta investment group, Jaroslav Haščák, is asking the state either to apologise or for compensation between €13 and €16 millionfor damage and non-pecuniary damage caused by illegal prosecution and detention. He is ready to give up on money if the Justice and Interior Ministries along with the General Prosecutor’s Office apologise to him.
The death rate in Slovakia decreased in February but the number of people who died from Covid increased. Almost 4,900 people died and 539 of these died of Covid, the third most frequent reason of death in Slovakia. The most common causes of death in February were circulatory disorders (45 percent) and tumors (19 percent).
Bratislava Airport is launching two new flights as of today. Ryanair will relaunch a flight to Dalaman in Turkey and introduce flights between Bratislava and Sofia in Bulgaria.
Streaming service Disney+ will be available in Slovakia as of June 14, 2022, The Walt Disney Company confirmed.
The bus connection between Bratislava and Hainburg should be renewed. Its financing should be provided by the Bratislava self-governing region and Lower Austria, and probably also the Bratislava municipality, but councillors have to decide about it first.
The InoBat Auto company will build a production plant for 400 workers in Voderady near Trnava, in addition to a development and testing centre for e-car batteries. InoBat also promised a bigger production company in eastern Slovakia.
Do not miss on Spectator.sk today
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