Slovakia revives its commission with Russia and restores military attaché exchanges
Bratislava has agreed to reconvene its intergovernmental commission with Moscow, with a session set for 25 November, and to exchange military attachés for the first time since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Commission back on the agenda
Slovakia has agreed to restart the Russian-Slovak Intergovernmental Commission, a body for economic, scientific and technical cooperation that last met at its 21st session in Bratislava on 12 November 2021. According to a Russian government document dated 10 September and obtained by POLITICO, Slovak Foreign Minister Juraj Blanár accepted a meeting in Moscow during a video call on 20 August. Robert Fico said on 14 October that the session is scheduled for 25 November, while the Russian document had first pointed to 26 and 27 October. The commission has been inactive since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. POLITICO reports that the Russian foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
- Commission holds its 21st and last session in Bratislava
- Viktor Orbán loses Hungary's parliamentary election to Péter Magyar
- Fico attends Victory Day commemorations in Moscow and meets Putin
- Blanár accepts a Moscow meeting of the commission during a video call
- Brigadier General Staviarsky reportedly in Moscow from early August
- Date of the Russian government document on the planned meeting
- Aktuality.sk reports the military attaché appointments
- Planned session of the commission in Moscow
Energy and wider agenda
The Russian document lists energy as the main subject Bratislava wants to discuss. Slovakia reportedly opposes EU plans to phase out imports of Russian gas, and the agenda includes Russian oil deliveries through the Druzhba pipeline and regular shipments of nuclear fuel for the country's power plants. Fico has argued that a quick end to Russian imports would raise costs for consumers in Slovakia, which remains heavily dependent on Russian energy. Beyond energy, the sides may set up working groups on culture, tourism, agriculture and environmental protection. The document also puts the Russian Science and Culture Center in Bratislava on the list, along with the situation of Russian athletes, whom Bratislava and Moscow say are discriminated against internationally. POLITICO could not verify the document independently, though it has the hallmarks of an authentic ministry note.
Military attachés return
The move restores military-diplomatic representation for the first time since the invasion, according to DW. Slovakia has sent two officers to Moscow, Brigadier General Slavomír Staviarsky and his deputy, Colonel Ivo Gahir. Public broadcaster STVR reports that Staviarsky has been in Moscow since early August. Russia is set to send an experienced officer to Bratislava. Opposition defence experts cited by Aktuality.sk named him as Maxim Verezan, who has Slovak approval but is not yet on the official list of accredited attachés, while Tagesschau reports that he is already accredited but not yet in place. Aktuality.sk reported the appointments on 8 October and says the defence ministry did not answer questions about when Verezan will arrive. The current defence minister defends the resumption, noting that the United States, Britain and France also have officers in Moscow.
Opposition and spying concerns
Opposition criticism has been sharp. Tomas Valasek, the security expert of Progressive Slovakia, said Fico had allowed himself to be blackmailed and pointed to the last Russian military attaché in Bratislava. That officer was caught in 2021 handing cash to an employee of a pro-Kremlin disinformation website, and Valasek said he had recruited Slovaks to pass secrets to Russia. The pro-European government of the time expelled dozens of members of the Russian embassy in Bratislava after that case. Martin Poliačik, a former MP associated with Progressive Slovakia, told DW that one extra attaché does not change the overall picture, but that the appointment sends a political signal. He added that NATO allies should be concerned about both the incoming officer's activities and the political environment in which he will work. DW reports that critics warn Russia could use the arrangement to expand intelligence and espionage, while the defence minister's predecessor warns that Moscow could use Slovakia as a base to support extreme parties and portals across Europe.
Fico's Moscow ties and the Hungary shift
Fico was the only head of government from an EU country to attend the Victory Day commemorations in Moscow on 9 May, where he met Vladimir Putin. Putin welcomed him warmly and said Russia would do everything to meet Slovakia's energy needs and was ready to cooperate in other areas. The shift follows the defeat of Viktor Orbán, who lost Hungary's April election to Péter Magyar, a result POLITICO says cost Putin one of his closest partners in Europe. Before that defeat, Orbán had revived a Russian-Hungarian intergovernmental commission on economic cooperation, and Magyar's government has not confirmed whether it will go ahead next year. According to POLITICO, the United States has invited Putin to the G20 summit in Miami in December, and the International Olympic Committee has provisionally lifted its suspension of the Russian Olympic Committee.
