Russia-friendly populist elected Slovak president
By Rob Cameron
Populist Peter Pellegrini has been elected president of Slovakia, succeeding the liberal Zuzana Caputova.
Mr Pellegrini, 48, defeated the pro-Western Ivan Korcok, a former diplomat, with 53% of the vote.
A former prime minister, he is an ally of nationalist Prime Minister Robert Fico, and shares the PM’s dovish attitude towards Russia.
Mr Fico and his allies now control Slovakia’s parliament, government and the president’s office.
Slovakia had been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies before Mr Fico came to power in October on a pledge to halt supplies of Slovak Army military stocks to Kyiv. With Mr Pellegrini replacing Mrs Caputova, Ukraine has now definitively lost a voice of support in an EU and Nato capital.
Mr Fico has called for an end to Western military support for Ukraine, an immediate ceasefire and peace talks with Moscow. Mr Fico said recently President Vladimir Putin had been “unfairly demonised” and argued admitting Ukraine to Nato would mark the beginning of a third world war.
Mr Pellegrini’s campaign echoed some of that Moscow-friendly rhetoric, accusing Mr Korcok of being a warmonger who would send Slovak soldiers to fight in Ukraine – a constitutional power the president does not have.
Once Mrs Caputova steps down in June, there will be no longer be any high-level official in Slovakia – a country which barely a year ago donated its entire fleet of MiG-29 aircraft to Ukraine – who unequivocally backs Kyiv’s effort to defend its territory with force.
