When Robert Fico sat opposite Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin in May, the Slovak prime minister said steps were already under way to restore military attachés at the two countries’ embassies. He said relations between Slovakia and Russia should reach beyond energy supplies.
The decision restores military-diplomatic representation for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Slovakia has since sent Brigadier General Slavomir Staviarsky and his deputy, Colonel Ivo Gahir, to Moscow to establish its military attaché presence.
Bratislava is also preparing to receive a Russian military attaché. An experienced Russian naval officer, who previously held a post in Rome and has spent recent years in Moscow, is on the way to the Slovak capital.
The exchange reverses a break made after Russia’s invasion. The government led by Eduard Heger expelled the Russian military attaché, Sergei Solomasov, along with other diplomats. Solomasov had been Slovakia’s last Russian military attaché, a post last held in the country four years ago.
His record is central to the criticism surrounding the new arrangement. Solomasov bribed Bohus Garbar, a collaborator of the disinformation service ‘Hlavné správy’, who was later convicted of espionage.
Critics have raised concerns about espionage risks and the effect of the decision on trust within NATO. Critics say Russia could use the renewed arrangement to strengthen its intelligence operations.
Opposition politicians have also asked what Slovakia stands to gain. Martin Poliacik, a former Slovak MP affiliated with the opposition Progressive Slovakia party, said the appointment’s main importance lay in the political signal it sends. The opposition has called it “a very bad decision” and warned of a Russian spy arriving in Bratislava.
The government has defended the restoration despite the objections from opposition figures and critics.
Comments (0)