Slovakia has lodged a diplomatic protest with Prague after Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan attended an anti-government demonstration in Bratislava on 16 September, accusing him of interfering in domestic politics.
Martin Muránsky, Slovakia’s ambassador to the Czech Republic, delivered the protest to the Czech Foreign Ministry on Thursday. Officials in Prague, however, stressed that Rakušan’s presence was a personal decision.
“It was a private activity of the interior minister. This was explained to the Slovak ambassador today,” said Czech Foreign Ministry spokesperson Daniel Drake, as quoted by the Slovak news agency TASR.
Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár said Rakušan’s appearance at the rally, organised by opposition parties, amounted to interference in the country’s internal affairs and risked pulling Slovakia into the Czech Republic’s escalating parliamentary election campaign.
Rakušan rejected the claims, insisting he attended in a personal capacity and had not intervened in Slovak politics.
“I am really here on my own and I will also leave on my own. I am not here as a representative of the [Czech] government, but as someone who likes Slovakia and Slovaks very much,” he told Denník N after the protest, adding that he did not speak on stage but acknowledged that Slovak opposition leader and Progressive Slovakia chair Michal Šimečka is his friend.
The protest was organised by Progressive Slovakia.
Responding to criticism on social media, Rakušan shared a video contrasting his presence in Bratislava with previous interventions by senior Czech politicians. The footage included former Czech president Miloš Zeman voicing support for Robert Fico’s Smer party and Andrej Babiš, leader of the populist ANO movement, warning Slovaks against voting for the liberal Progressive Slovakia in the 2023 election.
“Not all support is the same,” Rakušan wrote.
Blanár argued that Rakušan’s own comments, in which he expressed support for Slovakia’s “pro-European direction”, showed his attendance was politically motivated. “Such behaviour does not contribute to constructive Slovak-Czech dialogue, but is instead an abuse in the context of the Czech election campaign,” he said.
Muránsky’s appointment itself has been politically contentious. The ambassador is considered a political nominee, with the opposition pointing to his past role as parliamentary assistant to Vladimír Faič, a lawmaker for Fico’s Smer party. He also advised Fico from 2014 to 2020. Critics have also highlighted his lack of prior diplomatic experience, describing him primarily as an academic.
The dispute highlights the political sensitivities between two neighbours that share close historical and cultural ties but have increasingly diverged in recent years. Robert Fico’s government in Bratislava has taken a more nationalist and Eurosceptic line, while Prague’s coalition has sought to position itself firmly in the European mainstream. Their positions also differ sharply on the war in Ukraine, a rift that led to the suspension of regular joint government meetings last year.
