The death of a citizen abroad isn’t something that would normally draw public comment from top Slovak or Ukrainian officials, but Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine has stoked mutual tensions to the boiling point.
Slovakia initially provided close political, military and civic support to neighboring Ukraine following Moscow’s February 2022 invasion, and by early 2023 the nation of 5.4 million people had recorded over 1.2 million arrivals from Ukraine.
Since Russia-friendly Slovak PM Robert Fico returned to power in late 2023, however, his administration has cut off the flow of state arms to Ukraine. Fico also visited Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in late 2024.
That visit exacerbated tensions between Bratislava and Kyiv, which have exploded this year following the refusal of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to continue exporting Russian natural gas through his country’s territory to Slovakia.
“Zelenskyy is our enemy,” Fico said Jan. 28. “Zelenskyy has caused the problems we are experiencing [with an expected €500 million shortfall from lost gas transit fees]. I don’t like him, because he is damaging Slovakia.” The Slovak leader promised to veto EU aid for Ukraine if gas deliveries from Russia are not renewed.
The death of the Ukraine national in Bratislava was initially handled by a local police precinct, but the country’s national police force soon took the reins following “multiple ambiguities in the approach the police took, which will be the subject of further investigation,” the police force said in a statement on social media.
