Slovakia and Ukraine have a common border of 98 km and ethnic minorities living on both sides of it. According to the 2011 census there were 7,430 Slovaks who declared themselves as being of Ukrainian ethnicity; almost a quarter less than a decade prior.
If we add recent economic migrants to this number, then roughly 15,000 Ukrainians live in Slovakia, mostly in the Eastern part of the country. About 5,000 ethnic Slovaks live across the border in what is called Zakarpatia, which is known in English as Transcarpathia or the Carpathian Ruthenia, a region of about 12,000 square kilometers around the curve that the Carpathian Mountains make on the territory of today’s Ukraine after exiting Slovakia and before entering Romania.The region used to be part of the Hungarian - and then the Austro-Hungarian Empire - for centuries then it was annexed to Czechoslovakia at the end of the First World War, but it was granted autonomy and had a Governor who was in fact a US citizen, the child of some immigrants from the region. It was occupied by the Soviet Army in October 1944 and it has been part of Ukraine since then. Most Slovak ethnics live in the town of Užhorod and its surroundings. RSI’s special correspondent there, Gabriela Brovdi, says that the situation there is not as tense as in Crimea or Eastern Ukraine but people feel a mixture of pride for what they call the Ukrainian Revolution and uncertainty about the future of the country. Here is what some locals told her
vox-pop-Ukraine Máte problém s prehrávaním? Nahláste nám chybu v prehrávači.
Locals laid wreaths in the main square of Užhorod. Slovakia’s general counsel there, Jana Burianová, joined them.
konzulka-Ukraine Máte problém s prehrávaním? Nahláste nám chybu v prehrávači.
At the end of last week two tons of medical equipment left Slovakia for Ukraine and the Slovak side offered the possibility for 20 people who were lightly injured during the protests in Kiev to come to rehabilitation facilities in Slovakia. The final bill stood at about 23,000 euro, money covered from the state budget. The Slovak Catholic Charity has also offered to help some young traumatized protesters to come and relax in the High Tatras.
