Slovakia’s populist Prime Minister Robert Fico has hardened his opposition to Ukraine's bid to join Nato, saying that "as long as I am head of the Slovak government I will direct MPs [from his leftist Smer party] never to agree to Ukraine's joining Nato".

Fico made the comments during Sunday’s political discussion show O 5 minut 12 [At 5 to 12] aired by the state broadcaster STVR. He has long said he would veto Ukraine's Nato bid and described Ukraine as "a corrupt country", but he had struck a more diplomatic tone when he met his Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal in April. Fico made his latest sharp statement against Ukraine's Nato bid just days before he is to meet Shmyhal again at the border town of Uzhhorod on October 7.  

The latest O 5 minut 12 discussion commemorated the  80^th anniversary of the World War II battle of the Dukla Pass – when Nazi armies thwarted the Soviet attempt to break through the Carpathian mountains around the Polish-Slovak border to support the Slovak National Uprising (SNP) against Nazis and forces of the Slovak fascist state.

The Dukla Pass operation was one of the largest mountain battles in WWII, “I do not dare to say how many people in Slovakia lived to be free just because of the great losses at the Carpathian-Dukla operation, the numbers are horrible,” Fico said. Close to 2,000 Czechoslovak fighting men fell at Dukla Pass operation, while Red Army losses mounted up to 20,000.

During the O 5 minut 12 talk, Fico also said he would like to visit Moscow next year to “thank the liberators”.

“If such a possibility will be given, with great pleasure I will visit Moscow next year and thank the liberators because freedom in Slovakia came from the east, that is an undeniable fact,” Fico said.  

Fico has a storied record of picking on formative events in modern Slovak history, including the SNP, but also more ancient ones such as the christianization of present-day Slovakia by saints Cyril and Methodius in the 9th century. 

Fico also used the opportunity to praise the revival of the Slovak arms sector, which was developed in Slovakia after WWII and large parts of which formed the basis of Slovakia’s present robust car manufacturing industry.

In a separate development,  Fico filed a lawsuit against the editor-in-chief of online news outlet Aktuality.sk Peter Bardy and the publisher Ringier Slovak Media over Bardy’s bestseller book Fico – posadnuty mocou [Fico – Obsessed with Power].

Fico demands €100,000 for the use of Fico’s picture on the cover of the book. The move was condemned by Reporters Without Borders, the European Center for Press & Media Freedom and other international media associations.   

Local and international media were quick to describe Fico’s move as an example of the Slapp lawsuit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation). “It is cornering and an effort to silence journalists,” Matus Kostolny, editor of liberal daily DennikN wrote on his Facebook page.

“Quite surely they [Fico and his lawyers] read the book from front to end and apparently did not find any untrue information in it, because otherwise they would sue Bardy over those as well,” Kostolny wrote, pointing out that the lawsuit is only over the photography of Fico used at the cover.

“We are convinced that we have not violated the law, which we will defend and explain in court. And we believe in a fair trial,” Bardy stated, adding that “I will continue to do what I have been doing for almost three decades in journalism and together with the editors of Aktuality.sk, but also with many great journalists from other Slovak media.”

Aktuality.sk was the home outlet of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak before he was shot dead along with his fiancé Martina Kusnirova by a contract killer in 2018, sparking mass demonstrations which eventually forced Fico out of power. Since his return after the 2023 September elections, Fico has employed harsh rhetoric against liberal media, regularly describing leading Slovak outlets, including Aktuality.sk, DennikN and SME as enemy media.

Fico's left-right cabinet also pushed ahead with legislation restructuring the public broadcaster RTVS into STVR, a move which automatically ejected the previous management and gave the government more control over appointments into STVR’s overseeing body.