01/28/2025

Two friends of the Russian dictator – Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic – faced the same problems – mass protests by citizens against their policies.

The protests, which took place simultaneously in dozens of cities across Slovakia, are a response to the Fico government’s sharp foreign policy shift away from the EU and NATO and toward Russia. Organizers are calling for the pro-Russian politician to resign.

Mass protests that have been going on in Serbia for over two months have escalated into a general strike – on January 24, students declared a general strike against the government of President Aleksandar Vučić. They were joined by university professors, school teachers, lawyers, representatives of many companies, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and the media.

About what is happening today in Slovakia and Serbia – in the material of OBOZ.UA

There will be more and more of us

Protests against Prime Minister Fico’s Russian orientation are intensifying in Slovakia. Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered in the central square of the Slovak capital with posters against Prime Minister Robert Fico’s policy of rapprochement with Russia. It is estimated that at least 100,000 people took part in protests across the country, which is quite powerful for a country of 5 million. Protesters chanted “Enough Fico,” “We are Europe,” and “There will be more and more of us.”

The protests, which took place simultaneously in more than 20 cities in Slovakia, were organized by the non-governmental organization “Slovakia is Europe” in response to the sharp foreign policy shift towards Moscow by the Fico government since it took office in October 2023. In addition to their demands for a more transparent foreign policy, the organizers called for Fico to resign.

The last straw that forced Slovaks to take to the streets en masse was the statement of Tibor Gaspar, a deputy from Fico’s Smer party, who on January 17 directly stated on Slovak television that “the door must remain open for a situation where we can finally consider such a drastic decision as leaving the EU.” Robert Fico actually supported his party member. Such sentiments, which until recently were unthinkable for the country’s main politicians, pushed Western-oriented Slovaks to active protests. The situation in Slovakia is so electrified that there is already talk of introducing a state of emergency in the country.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed support for Slovak protesters by posting a photo of the demonstration on the social network X with a comment in Slovak: “Bratislava is not Moscow. Slovakia is Europe.”

Ukraine and “someone else”

Slovakia’s leadership is going crazy at the prospect of losing power. Ahead of planned pro-European protests, the pro-Moscow ruling coalition has called an emergency meeting of the country’s Security Council to address what it says is an “organized escalation of domestic tensions directed from abroad.” Robert Fico has said the unrest was “financed from abroad and linked to the Slovak opposition.”

Citing intelligence information, Fico claims, without providing any evidence, that Slovakia has a group of unknown experts who helped in the protests in Ukraine in 2014 and in Georgia last year. Most Slovaks are outraged by all this and say that such statements by the Prime Minister about a “coup organized by foreign states” are a cry of despair, and the EU remains an obstacle to Fico in his attempts to authoritarianally take over the country.

Fico again, protests again

Robert Fico may lose power for the second time due to mass protests by Slovaks. The politician already held the position of prime minister in the government in 2006-2010 and 2012-2018. Opponents even then accused him of creating mafia structures in state authorities and usurping power.

The pro-Putin politician was once removed from power in Slovakia only after protests erupted in 2018 over the murder of a local investigative journalist and his fiancée. Jan Kuciak had been investigating corruption linked to Fico’s government, EU subsidies and the Italian mafia. He and his fiancée were shot dead by hitmen on February 21, 2018. Tens of thousands of Slovaks took to the streets in the country’s biggest demonstrations since the revolution that toppled communism in 1989, forcing Fico and his ministers to resign.

In 2022, Slovakia’s National Criminal Agency (NACA) indicted the former prime minister on corruption charges. It was alleged that during his second term as prime minister, Fico created a criminal group that used the police and tax department to attack political rivals. However, to this day, the pro-Russian politician remains at large, not behind bars.

The most massive protests since the Milosevic era

Mass protests that have been going on in Serbia for more than two months have escalated into a general strike late last week – on January 24, students declared a general strike against the government of President Aleksandar Vučić. They have been joined by university professors, school teachers, lawyers, representatives of many companies, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and the media. The current protests in Serbia are even larger than 24 years ago, when Serbs went on strike against then-authoritarian President Slobodan Milošević. According to the Belgrade-based rally monitoring agency, up to 55,000 people are taking part.

Formally, the protesters are demanding criminal responsibility for the November 1 tragedy, when a concrete roof collapsed at a train station in Serbia’s second-largest city, Novi Sad, killing 15 people, including children. In reality, the protesters are calling for a change of government in the country.

Vucic blames the West

Against this backdrop, Aleksandar Vucic accused the West of trying to stage a “color revolution” in the republic, in which, according to him, “billions of euros have already been invested.” The Serbian president said that foreign agents are already calling on students to paralyze life in the country.

The current protests are not the first in recent times. For example, on August 10 last year, protests began in Serbia against a lithium mining project. Aleksandar Vučić predictably stated that the protesters, with the support of the West, were going to stage a “color revolution” in Serbia. Moreover, according to him, this information was given to him by representatives of the Russian special services.

The Kremlin may be behind the protests

Senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, Adrian Korotnytsky, stated in an exclusive comment to OBOZ.UA that Russia may be behind the protests, as odious representatives of the Serbian elite, who have openly pro-Russian views, are actively participating in them.

Recently, President Vučić has made several statements and steps that may not please Russia. For example, he stated that, at the request of the United States, it is necessary to buy out Gazprom’s share in NIS (Serbia’s oil industry – 56.15% belongs to Gazprom Neft and Gazprom), which will greatly reduce Moscow’s influence in the country. In addition, Serbia suddenly canceled almost all orders for the supply of weapons from the Russian Federation at the beginning of this year. The reason for this decision was European sanctions against Russia. The third blow from Serbia was recorded earlier. The Serbs sold hundreds of millions of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine through third countries. President Vučić publicly confirmed that Serbia had indeed exported ammunition to the United States, Spain, the Czech Republic and other countries for a total of 800 million euros.

It is difficult to say how correct the assumption about the Russian footprint in the current protests in Serbia is. But we already have a change in the rhetoric of the Serbian authorities towards Russia. Thus, official Belgrade will no longer take away the “Oil Industry of Serbia” from Russia and will not do anything without an agreement with the Russian side, said Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vulin.

People are tired of these regimes

“In Slovakia and Serbia, people are not satisfied with the current regimes because of their corruption and disagreement in the goals of both foreign and domestic policy, which are set by the authorities on the one hand and the citizens of these countries on the other,” – this opinion was expressed in an exclusive comment to OBOZ.UA by diplomat, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ukraine, Representative of Ukraine to the EU in 2008-2010 Andriy Veselovsky.

As for Slovakia, according to the diplomat, the rise in electricity and gas prices was a certain impetus for even greater dissatisfaction with the Fico government. This happened because Robert Fico was pursuing a deliberately wrong policy. Energy prices in Slovakia were formed primarily at the expense of cheap Russian gas, which came through Ukraine. The agreement was terminated because it brings great profits to Russia, and we cannot feed the Russian military machine with our money and human lives during a war. Ukraine reported this in advance.

“At the same time, gas is a trigger, a push. The main reason is that Slovaks began to realize that this government lives at the expense of the people, the government is corrupt and politically treacherous. That is, the foundation of the entire protest is disagreement with the policy of Robert Fico, who is distancing himself from ties in the EU and NATO and from helping Ukraine, demonstrating his loyalty to Moscow, who deliberately did not convert gas supplies and therefore put the country in a bad economic situation. Another trigger is Fico’s increasing usurpation of power at the expense of the media, at the expense of restrictions on civil rights, at the expense of changes in legislation and covering up corruption. I do not rule out that the situation is already moving forward quite strongly and early elections will be held this spring,” Andriy Veselovsky notes.

As for the statements about a “coup d’état” and the allusion to Ukraine, according to Andriy Veselovsky, all authoritarian rulers at a certain stage, in order to save themselves from the dissatisfaction of citizens, say that you are good citizens, it’s the scoundrels abroad. They want to deceive you and overthrow me, the good one, from power. This is what Fico is doing, saying that it’s the Ukrainians who sent their agents there and they are inciting you. But how can you incite tens of thousands if there is no reason for this?

“The bottom line is that 100 thousand for Slovakia is the same as a million for Ukraine. The country is small. At the same time, all the major cities have risen in protests. People are coming out who understand perfectly well, who feel that they are being fooled, that under a political slogan they are being sold a life that is not at all what would suit them. They are perfectly aware that in reality the specific government is to blame, which is trying to drastically change the general direction of Slovakia’s policy, while restricting the rights of citizens,” Andriy Veselovsky emphasized.

As for Serbia, according to the diplomat, due to the tragic events of last year, when people died due to poor-quality infrastructure repairs, the citizens of this country finally realized that they are dealing with a merger of the mafia with the government. That they have been ruled for several decades by people who lie to half of the citizens that they are joining the EU, and those who do not support it are bad. The second is lied to that they are against the EU, because the EU wants to enslave them and tear them away from their native Russia. In this way, the “polarization” of the population occurs, which is easier to govern.

Andriy Veselovsky believes that it is not worth expecting an aggravation of the situation in Serbia. The democratic opposition is not inclined to such actions. Therefore, it will rather be such pressure, to which economic pressure from the European Union will be added.

“The current government led by President Vučić has been sitting on several chairs at the same time for many years. It praises Trump when he won the elections, it praises Putin when the dictator comes and opens another monument, it praises the EU and Germany when they invest in lithium production, it criticizes China for investments. And at the same time, they are all bad. Trump – because he is an American imperialist, Germany – because it fought against Serbia, and everything is not good in Russia because it is at war with Ukraine,” Veselovsky believes.

As for Vučić’s alleged actions to reduce Russian influence in Serbia, according to the diplomat, it resembles a kind of dance. One step forward, one step back. And so on for a long time.

“In my opinion, in the time of Trump, it cannot last forever, the example of Colombia shows this. After all, one of the tasks of American policy now is to rid Europe of energy dependence on Russia. And therefore they will achieve this by all means. Today, Serbia is powered by energy from Russian gas and oil. For this, it was forced to pay with its own gas processing and pumping capacities. The largest Serbian company in this industry is actually Russian. Recently, the European Union and the Americans have made a clear demand: as long as this company is Russian, it will be under our sanctions, but then you will not be able to take energy from it,” Andriy Veselovsky stated.

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