Election could decide whether country sticks with liberal, pro-western line or begins to lean more towards Russia
“There is a real concern that after the vote Slovakia could become some sort of Trojan horse of Russia in the EU and NATO,” said Andrej Matisak, a journalist at Slovak daily Pravda.
Robert Fico’s campaign rhetoric does suggest that if he is able to form a government, he would move towards the pro-Russia camp, Matisak told the Guardian, noting that the Smer (Direction) leader “says that if he governs, Slovakia will not provide any military aid to Ukraine and if he criticizes Russia it is usually a very mild and general critique.”