79th anniversary of Bratislava's liberation

President Zuzana Čaputová on Thursday commemorated the 79th anniversary of the liberation of Bratislava during WWII. "With gratitude and veneration, we're commemorating the heroes who fought for the liberation of our capital, the 740 fallen Soviet and Romanian soldiers, as well as all the victims of Nazism," the head of state posted on a social network. According to the president, this anniversary reminds people of the difficult struggle that their predecessors had to fight in order to regain their freedom. "At the same time, the memory of April 4, 1945 should motivate us to prevent violent ideologies and regimes based on the desire to subjugate people or whole nations by brute force from returning," she added.

Prime Minister Robert Fico lambasted ambassadors of EU member states for their refusal to participate in Thursday's laying of wreaths at the Bratislava Slavin Memorial. The ceremony marks the 79th anniversary of Bratislava's liberation by Soviet troops in World War 2. “It's shocking that the [EU] ambassadors have excused themselves from the official laying of wreaths just because they expect the presence of Russian and Belarusian ambassadors. I rather won't even comment on that," said Fico.

TASR