The upcoming autumn parliamentary election in Slovakia could undermine the support that Slovakia is showing to Ukraine, said Slovak President Zuzana Caputova adding that she is concerned about the spread of disinformation in the country. In an interview for the website of the European weekly Politico, the President added that Slovakia could thus follow Hungary and become a problem child of the European Union.
"The populist Smer-SD party of controversial ex-premier Robert Fico, who calls for an end to the military support for Ukraine, is leading in the pre-election polls," writes Politico. Last week, MP and former Interior Minister Jaroslav Naď said that top constitutional officials have received intelligence information from abroad about Russia's efforts to rig the elections. Another former Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák of the party SMER-SD party ruled it out, calling the claims "gibberish".
The website further points out that the Russian narrative is also doing well in Slovakia. It mentions a survey by NGO Globsec, according to which only 40 percent of Slovaks believe that Russia is directly responsible for the war in Ukraine. For comparison, in neighbouring Poland it is 85 percent.
Last week, director general of the Polish news agency PAP, Wojciech Surmacz said, that disinformation is an ever-present topic and we are constantly confronted with new ways of spreading Russian propaganda. Surmacz said that Russia has been spreading disinformation successfully and very professionally for the last 100 years.
Source: TASR
