EU state arrests Ukrainian over alleged coup plot
A Ukrainian national has been arrested in Slovakia in connection with a coup threat, local media reported on Thursday, citing a police statement. The man, who has not been named, will be expelled from Slovakia and returned to Ukraine.
The move comes after Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has refused to follow NATO and EU policy on the Ukraine conflict and survived an assassination attempt by a pro-Kiev activist last year, linked recent anti-government protests in his country to interference by Ukrainians.
Last week, up to 100,000 people took to the streets of Bratislava and other cities in protest at what they claim is Fico's perceived alignment with Russia.
'Currently, one person is at the border aliens police office, where administrative expulsion is being carried out,'
police chief Jana Maskarova told Dennik N newspaper, adding that the Ukrainian national will be placed on the country's blacklist.
On Wednesday, Erik Kalinak, head of the advisory council to Prime Minister Fico, alleged a link between recent anti-government protests in Slovakia and a military unit of foreign nationals fighting for Ukraine against Russia known as the Georgian Legion.
In a post on X on Thursday, the Legion rejected the
'baseless and absurd accusations made by the Slovak authorities.'
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The accusation came weeks after Kiev blocked the flow of Russian gas through its network to Slovakia and amid heightened diplomatic tensions between the two neighbors. Speaking on Tuesday, Fico proclaimed:
'Our enemy is Zelensky. Zelensky caused the problems we have. I don't like him because he harms Slovakia.'
Last Tuesday the prime minister, citing a report by the Slovak Information Service (SIS) intelligence agency, claimed that the country's political opposition was preparing a coup in the country – akin to the one that took place in Kiev back in 2014. He also alleged that
'there is a group of experts on the territory of the Slovak Republic that had actively operated in Georgia and during the Maidan in Ukraine.'
Several days later, Fico stated that Bratislava would expel these
'foreign instructors.'
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