Robert Fico will not resign as prime minister at the request of 60,000 people who demanded it on January 24 at protests across Slovakia. He also accused Ukrainians of organizing the riots and lashed out at Volodymyr Zelensky.
Points of attention
- Prime Minister Robert Fico refuses to resign despite demands from protesters in Slovakia, accusing Ukrainians of organizing riots.
- Protesters are calling for transparent governance, respect for the law, and refusal of any cooperation with Russia, rather than wanting Slovakia to leave the EU.
- Fico criticizes Ukrainian President Zelensky for interfering in Slovak internal affairs and predicts Ukraine losing territories after an agreement between Russia and the US.
- The Prime Minister claims that demonstrations are being manipulated by non-governmental organizations funded from abroad, preparing lists of people to be expelled from Slovakia.
- Fico emphasizes the need to safeguard Slovak republic against any attempts to undermine the government's stance on Ukraine.
Fico cynically refused to resign
The Prime Minister said on the Slovak Radio program Sobotné dialogue that the government can only be changed after parliamentary elections.
"This is not 2018," Fico said.
In 2018, Fico resigned as Prime Minister immediately after mass protests that erupted after the murder of journalist Jan Kuciak.
In 2025, we are too hardened and experienced for some public organizations, Georgian and Ukrainian guards to undermine the state.
Today, Fico repeated several times that the organizers are lying to the people at the protests. According to him, it is a pure lie that the authorities would like Slovakia to leave the EU. "Nobody leaves the EU," he said.
They made up some kind of misleading story here. That people need to take to the streets so that Slovakia doesn't leave the EU. Every legal entity knows that the government has never taken a single step that would threaten EU membership.
Robert Fico
Prime Minister of Slovakia
The organizers of the demonstration are not saying that the government wants to leave the EU. In fact, they are calling on the government to govern transparently, abide by the law, respect the independence of institutions, or refuse any cooperation with Russia.
Regarding the protesters, Fico also stated that a third of them are Ukrainians "who are opposing the Slovak government."
"I don't understand why Ukrainians have to complain about the Slovak government," he said.
The Prime Minister also sharply criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who on January 24, after protests on the social network X, spread the status of former President Zuzana Čaputová's partner Juraj Rizman and wrote: "Bratislava is not Moscow. Slovakia is Europe."
Fico claims that this is "inadequate interference in the internal affairs of the Slovak Republic" by Zelensky. He does not even plan to meet with Zelensky at this time.
Fico “prophetically” loses territories to Ukraine
According to Fico, Ukraine is in a terrible state today and depends on help from the whole world.
The Prime Minister believes that after the agreement between Russia and the United States, Ukraine will lose a third of its territory, there will be foreign troops on its territory, and it will never join NATO.
The Prime Minister spoke again today about the upcoming "mutiny."
The protests are not 100 percent organized by the opposition, they are simply ministers. This mass is being celebrated by non-governmental organizations that are funded from abroad, for example, from Ukraine.
Currently, according to Fico, a list of people who will be expelled from Slovakia is being prepared. This should happen in the coming days. According to the Prime Minister, the "group" that would like to abuse the demonstrations consists of dozens of people.
"I don't want anyone to undermine this republic because they don't like the government's opinion on Ukraine," he noted.
