All over Europe they know the most important leader in Central Europe and one of the most important European politicians, Robert Fico, Ľuboš Blaha ranted at the Smer’s ceremonial assembly almost two weeks ago. That may be true. However, Fico is not that well known outside of Europe.
When Smer won the parliamentary elections last year, the name of the Slovak prime minister or the name of his party were missing from the headlines of American television, newspapers and news servers. However, the same phrase was repeated: “pro-Russian politician” or “pro-Russian party”. Pro-Russian politician. Pro-Russian side. This is how they perceive Robert Fico in the West.
A normal person’s hair must stand on end from the blitz that Vladimir Putin is responsible for:
He has nothing to lose
This is perhaps one of the answers to the question of why the Slovak prime minister asked Vladimir Putin for an invitation to the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Moscow during his appearance on state television Rossiya 1, and why he “accepted it with pleasure.” He once wanted to be a modern Western-style leftist, but he has become a pro-Russian populist, or “the new face of European illiberalism.”
That’s how the British newspaper marked him in his profile. From this point of view, Fico has nothing to lose on his way to Moscow. It will only confirm the label it has had for a long time. It is not quite a fair label, rather a journalistic abbreviation for readers who are not familiar with Slovak realities. Fico is certainly not as close to Moscow as perhaps Viktor Orbán.
As the former vice-president of Smer, Marek Maďarič, Fico’s rhetoric is mainly pro-Russian, “but on the substantive level, it is exactly in line with the states of the European Union and NATO”. If we put aside the rhetoric, Fico’s government actually behaves quite pro-Ukrainian. Ukraine’s accession to the EU, which Fico’s government unconditionally supports, is definitely not in Putin’s interest. The sale of Slovak weapons to Ukraine is also not.
We are not saying that the prime minister will have to struggle in Moscow in May. Apparently, he is really telling the truth when he claims that, given his “mental and value equipment”, such a visit is quite natural. Well, this is not the objective level. Sometimes domestic politics can be done from abroad, and this is exactly the case.
Which is worse than one Fico
However, Fico was never openly pro-Russian on the issue of war, he had Ľuboša Blaha for that. He never shouted “never against Russia”. He did it more sensibly. “War is a matter of life and death. People who listened to him suddenly forgot about problems like corruption, because new topics were more important to them,” Maďarič, who considers this the reason why Smer won the elections.
In addition, Fico’s visit to Moscow will also annoy the “liberal media”, which undoubtedly pleases him. We even dare to say that the prime minister’s dislike of the media is perhaps more authentic than his inclination towards Russia. Of course, Fico’s visit to Moscow is harmful, unnecessary and embarrassing.
It would be much better to have a prime minister who, despite his mental and value equipment, is able to honor the memory of the victims of the Second World War in a different way than by visiting the aggressor, who today has other victims on his conscience.
If Robert Fico wants to go “to the scene of the crime”, we recommend destinations other than Moscow: for example, Buča, Irpiň or Boroďanka. There, too, everything came from Moscow, but it was death, not freedom. And they were not brought by the long-defunct Red Army of the defunct Soviet Union, but by the army commanded by the one who invited him to Moscow.
Well, unfortunately, we understand why the prime minister accepted Putin’s invitation. According to surveys, up to 51 percent of Slovaks believe that the war in Ukraine is caused by Western provocations or Ukraine itself. Fico’s visit thus reflects not only his mental and value equipment, but also the mental and value equipment of a large part of Slovakia. And that is much more dangerous than one Fico.
