PETER Vojtek, chief of the General Staff of the Slovak Armed Forces, has requested to be released from his post due to health problems. Former ground forces supreme commander Milan Maxim, currently serving as defence attaché in the Czech Republic, may substitute him on the post.
Vojtek’s resignation and Maxim’s nomination were approved by the government on April 23, which will now propose them to the president.
“My health problems have led me to this decision,” Vojtek said, as quoted by the TASR newswire, on April 22. “I will not cut my ties with the uniform, however. There were times when [the military] was my first family.”
Vojtek has served in the army for 35 years. He was appointed to the post of the chief of the General Staff on December 15, 2011, and leaves it after about one half of his term, the SITA newswire wrote.
Defence Minister Martin Glváč thanked Vojtek for his work. He added that he is counting on using him as an advisor for military affairs in the future, SITA wrote.
Speculation about Vojtek resigning from his post emerged in late 2013, when the Hospodárske Noviny daily reported that his departure is related to the case of alleged embezzlement in the Military Intelligence Service (VSS) during the rule of the first government of Robert Fico (2006-10). Vojtek and Glváč had differing views over how to resolve the situation, the daily wrote.
Both Glváč and Vojtek have denied this claim.
