The programme opened with a video montage of the May 2024 shooting. Several Smer representatives took the stage, including MEP Ľuboš Blaha, who praised Fico’s recent visit to Moscow.

Thursday saw German Chancellor Friedrich Merz use his speech at a Ukraine conference in Rome to urge Slovakia and PM and Smer chair Robert Fico to back the EU’s next package of anti-Russian sanctions.

That, said Lubos Blaha, deputy chairman of Mr. Fico’s governing Smer party, is just the “hysterical” chatter of Bratislava liberals.

Robert Fico was shot five times, an act of violence that left Slovakia’s populist leader “fighting for his life” and the country reeling.

Slovakia's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot as he came out of a meeting. He was in "stable but still very serious" condition, the hospital said.

Lubos Blaha, a representative of Mr. Fico’s party, Smer, said opponents and what he called “the liberal media” had “built a gallows” for the prime minister.

Slovakia's populist Prime Minister Robert Fico was wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon and taken to hospital.

Robert Fico says if his party returns to power in Saturday's vote, military aid to Ukraine will end.

Slovakia’s pro-Russia prime minister Robert Fico was on Wednesday night fighting for life after he was shot in a “politically motivated” assassination attempt.

TASR has cited parliament's vice-chairman Lubos Blaha as confirming that Prime Minister Fico was shot and wounded during the incident.

Eset founder: If Fico and Blaha gain power, we will consider leaving the country Company has experience with Russian discreditation campaign.

Controversial Slovak MEP visits Moscow to thank Russia for ‘liberation’ “Russia is still beautiful, still wise and still advanced,” said lawmaker Ľuboš Blaha, an ally of Slovak PM Robert Fico.