Hei alle,
I’m working on an investigative piece about Slovakia’s political shift under Prime Minister Robert Fico and would love to hear how people in Norway view what’s happening.
Since returning to office, Fico has:
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Halted all military aid to Ukraine
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Attended Russia’s Victory Day Parade in Moscow
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Been blocked from flying over Baltic airspace
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Introduced controversial domestic laws with parallels to Russia
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Blamed NATO and Western policy for escalating conflict
Some are calling him “Putin’s voice inside the EU.”
From Norway’s perspective — as a NATO member and neighbor to the Baltic region — how do you see this development?
Do you consider Slovakia’s actions a regional concern, or just isolated populist politics?
Happy to share the full investigative article if anyone’s interested.
Appreciate any thoughts from the Norwegian side!
Norwegian perspectives? How is Slovakia’s pro-Russia shift seen from the North?
byu/Partnerakro inNorway
Posted by Partnerakro
6 Comments
Never heard of it.
The average Norwegian’s response to this would be “Don’t you mean Hungary?”
I’m worried about Slovakia, Serbia, Hungary, Romania and Turkey. I worry that some misunderstood nationalism takes those countries in authoritarian, undemocratic and pro-Russian directions, and that it’ll be a part of a larger international conflict that erodes much of the progress we’ve made in the last decades towards functional civilised democratic societies with similar rights and liberties for all.
It is of concern, of course, because Norway is invested in the coherence of the European project. Both Slovakia and Hungary is leaning towards Russia, and that’s a problem. Their divergence is being handled mainly diplomatically, but also operationally in face of the espionage threat from close neighbours. Espionage and potential sabotage remains a concern, especially when it comes from fellow European countries.
Thought it was cechoslovakia
I went on holiday to Slovenia last summer. «You’re going to Slovakia, right? Oh, right, Slovenia. Uh, which is which?» is a question I got several times when discussing holiday plans last spring.
One of the people who was there with me has to ask me whenever we discuss the holiday if it was Slovenia or Slovakia we went to, as she simply can’t remember.
Norwegians generally don’t know much about what’s going on in Slovakia, is my point here.