Photo: Print Screen of video

This article was first published by Truthmeter.mk (North Macedonia), within the framework of Western Balkans Anti-Disinformation Project.

It is not true that the “US, NATO, and EU elites are using NGOs to stage a mass protest in Bratislava.” It is the citizens of Slovakia that are protesting. Fico is facing pressure from all sides—citizens, professionals, and now his coalition.

We analyze a post on the social network Facebook that shares video footage of the protests in Slovakia and writes:

It is not true that the “globalists have already tried to assassinate Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.” On  the 15th of May 2024, Slovak Prime Minister Fico was shot and critically wounded in the Slovak city of Handlová after a government meeting. The accused in the attack is 71-year-old Juraj Cintula, who is currently undergoing court proceedings for the attack. During his initial interrogation by the investigating authorities, he stated that his actions were primarily motivated by the opposition of Fico’s government to providing military support to Ukraine during the Russian invasion. Cintula is the sole individual accused of the attack on Fico and is currently facing court proceedings. He acted alone, and so it is not true that “globalists tried to kill him”. There’s a specific culprit responsible for the incident. Cintula is charged with the attempted murder of a protected person. The maximum sentence for this crime is 25 years to life. Last year, the Slovak Supreme Court dismissed the case as a terrorist attack because the evidence did not suggest it. A letter sent by Cintula to his wife was presented in the proceedings, which the court found to show Cintula’s personal hatred of Fico, rather than a clear intention to force the government to do or not do something. The attack on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was condemned by leaders around the world including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and others.

It is not true that the “US, NATO, and EU elites are using NGOs to stage a mass protest in Bratislava.” It is the citizens of Slovakia that are protesting. Fico is facing pressure from all sides—citizens, professionals, and now his coalition.

To see thousands of people gathered in the streets as can be seen in the video of the post we are reviewing, and to claim that they were all orchestrated by the US, NATO, and the EU is nothing more or less than propaganda. Such masses of people of heterogeneous nature (the most diverse group of people both in age, education, but with the same discontent) cannot be controlled by one center. Especially not in over 20 cities, as is happening in Slovakia. The people on the streets agree on one thing that unites them—the stance that Slovakia does not belong to Russia and that they are against the inclination of the Fico government towards Moscow. Slovakia has been a member of NATO since 2002 and a member of the EU since 2004. Citizens in over 20 cities in Slovakia are peacefully protesting and demanding that Slovakia remains in these international organizations while their government stops undermining the country’s international standing.

The Guardian reported on the 25th of January that Fico had rejected calls for his resignation after tens of thousands demonstrated against his government’s change in policy to move closer to Russia.

Parliament is now paralysed not because of some external dark forces operating in the background, but because of Fico’s inability to govern, said opposition leader Michal Šimečka of Progressive Slovakia, signaling his party’s readiness to support early elections.

Fico responded to the protests and without evidence accused the opposition of “being prepared to occupy power in cooperation with foreign states regardless of the election results.”

The organizers of the protest dismissed this story, stating that the only threat to the state is not them, but the interference of Fico’s friend, Vladimir Putin.

It’s what all of them say. Listen to Erdogan in Turkey, Orban in Hungary, Irakli Kobakhidze in Georgia, Serbia, they all use the same narrative. In my opinion, Slovakia is just one of the countries that are submitting to the Moscow regime—thanks to our prime minister, Marian Kulich, one of the organizers of the protest, a member of the organization Peace to Ukraine, told Deutsche Welle.

It’s not true that the protests are happening because Fico doesn’t hate Russia and doesn’t want war. The war was incited by Russia, unprovoked. Russia could end the war by withdrawing from Ukraine and its occupied territories. Peace in Ukraine does not depend on Fico. The war is provoked by Russia, while NATO supports Ukraine in its right of self-defense.

The narrative of “starting a new Maidan or color revolution with the same scenario everywhere” is an attempt to defocus the public and is not based on facts. It is used by authorities and their protagonists to accuse the West of organizing demonstrations to solve internal and external issues in individual countries, but no evidence is offered. It also ignores and minimizes the facts—that the internal issues of the various states that lead to these protests are inspired by the governments that rule the states. Citizens have the right to organize and demonstrate peacefully. Just as they elect their governments, citizens have the right to demonstrate and protest against their policies. Such is the case with Slovakia. Color revolutions have thus far replaced an autocratic government closer to Russia with one closer to the West. Each of these revolutions had some degree of support from Western countries, which varied from case to case. However, internal factors played a key role.

Taking all of this into account, we assess the post as untrue.