Former Slovak leader Igor Matovič didn’t mince words in deploring an appearance by the country’s current Prime Minister Robert Fico on Russia’s state-owned Rossiya 1 TV channel on Wednesday.
“What a horrible treacherous ferret,” said Matovič, who served as the country’s prime minister between 2020 and 2021, in a post on Facebook.
The pro-Russian Slovak leader was interviewed on “60 Minutes,” a political talk show hosted by Russia’s sanctioned propagandist-in-chief, Olga Skabeyeva, known as the “iron doll of Putin TV” for her criticism of Russia’s political opposition and of the West. She previously dismissed a massacre in Bucha, Ukraine by Russian occupying forces as a “hoax” staged by the West to create “a fake version of Srebrenica,” a reference to an infamous chapter in the 1990s disintegration of Yugoslavia in which Serbian troops massacred 8,000 Muslim men and boys.
In his Rossiya 1 interview, Fico accused the West of “prolonging the war” by supporting Ukraine, described Western sanctions against Russia as ineffective and said he was ready to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The European Union tells Ukrainians: ‘Here are your weapons, here is your money, fight, just don’t bother us, we no longer want anything to do with this war,’” Fico said.
The Slovak leader added he would like to visit Moscow for a celebration of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe on May 9 next year.
Fico’s prerecorded appearance on the propaganda channel sparked outrage among Slovak opposition politicians, MEPs and Ukrainian officials.
“Slovak Prime Minister Fico gave an interview to Russian propagandist Olga [Skabeyeva]. Let me remind you that [Skabeyeva] called for the occupation of Ukraine, the killing of Ukrainians, and inciting hatred against Ukraine. Fico can just move to Moscow if he loves Russia so much,” said Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko in a post on X.
British Ambassador to Slovakia Nigel Baker said it was “regrettable” that Fico had agreed to be interviewed by Skabayeva.
“The claim that the West is not interested in peace is false. We support #Zelenskyy’s peace plan. And the fastest way to achieve peace is for [Russia] to leave the territory [of Ukraine],” he wrote on X.
Czech European People’s Party MEP Danuše Nerudová said Fico had confirmed he was “a threat to Europe’s security.”
Back at home, the leader of the opposition Progressive Slovakia party, Michal Šimečka, called Fico’s appearance “an enormous disgrace,” while an MP from the opposition Freedom and Solidarity party, Juraj Krúpa, described it as “unprecedented.”
“Not even [Moscow-supporting Hungarian Prime Minister] Viktor Orbán would dare [do that],” Krúpa told a press conference.
