The Prime Minister of Slovakia underwent surgery

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico underwent surgery after an assassination attempt by writer Juraj Cintula. Reuters reports this.

Deputy Prime Minister of Slovakia Tomas Taraba said that Fico underwent surgery: “Fortunately, as far as I know, the operation was successful. I think he will survive... there is no threat to his life at the moment.” However, some media reports that Fico’s life is still in danger.

According to local publications, the Prime Minister’s operation lasted four hours, after which the politician was put into an artificial coma and transferred to the intensive care unit. According to other sources , Fico is conscious. Earlier, Slovak Labor Minister Erik Tomas reported that the Prime Minister had several organs damaged.

Local media journalists also identified the attacker. He turned out to be 71-year-old Slovak writer Juraj Cintula. According to journalists, he has been a member of the Writers Association since 2015. Tsintula's son stated that his father had a permit to carry weapons. According to local TV channel TA3, Tsintula committed the assassination attempt due to disagreement with the policies of the Slovak government.

Hungarian investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi claims that Cintula is associated with the pro-Russian group Slovenskí Branci ("Slovak Conscripts"). In 2019, VSquare published an investigation that stated that the group’s leader, Peter Švrček, was trained by Russian special forces. In 2022, the group announced the cessation of activities.

The Russian authorities responded to the assassination attempt on Fico. Vladimir Putin called the assassination attempt a “monstrous crime” and noted that he knows Fico “as a courageous and strong-willed person.” Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov also called the assassination attempt a "great tragedy."

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said on the air of the “Evening with Vladimir Solovyov” program: “We know him as a friend of Russia, who at this dramatic historical time, a turning point in the history of mankind, is not afraid to express his point of view, which often does not coincide with the mainstream “collective West”.

The assassination attempt on Robert Fico took place after a cabinet meeting on May 15th. The attacker shot Fico several times, after which the prime minister was taken to hospital by helicopter.

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