Slovakia says the chief of Georgian Legion has organized anti-government rallies for Kiev
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused a Ukrainian army intelligence unit of overseas nationals generally known as the Georgian Legion of organising anti-government protests in his nation.
Fico, who has persistently criticised the EU’s help for Kiev and survived an assassination try by a pro-Ukraine activist, instructed a press convention on Friday that the Georgian Legion and its chief, Mamuka Mamulashvili, are appearing as a instrument of Ukrainian secret providers in Slovakia.
Round 100,000 individuals rallied in Bratislava and different Slovak cities final week, utilizing the slogan “Slovakia is Europe” and chanting “Sufficient of Fico!” The opposition has accused the prime minister of being pro-Russian and disagreeing with the bloc’s coverage of supporting Ukraine.
Talking at a press convention on Friday, Fico claimed that the Ukrainian intelligence, utilizing the Georgian Legion, had tried to “abuse” the rallies in an try to oust the federal government and pressure a snap election.
“If one thing appears like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, it’s a duck,” Fico instructed reporters, pointing to alleged ties between Mamulashvili and the group ‘Peace for Ukraine’, which organized a number of the rallies.
Initially a militia composed of Georgian nationals searching for to again Kiev, the Legion has since been built-in into the Ukrainian army and is now beneath the course of the nation’s army intelligence, in response to Fico.
The Slovak prime minister has repeatedly pointed to similarities in techniques utilized in Georgia final 12 months and the continued mass protests in his nation and Serbia.
Slovakia has formally added Mamulashvili to its record of sanctioned people and banned him from coming into the nation, the prime minister introduced. Inside Minister Matus Sutaj-Estok mentioned {that a} whole of 10 people have been sanctioned, and that one Ukrainian nationwide shall be deported. He didn’t point out any names, nonetheless.
Assaults on Slovakia “haven’t stopped,” mentioned the top of the Slovak Info Service (SIS), Pavol Gaspar, calling the demonstrations a part of a “long-term organized hybrid operation.”
Peace for Ukraine accused Fico and his occasion of “appearing like a bullhorn for Moscow,” and known as Mamulashvili and the Georgian Legion “heroic defenders” of Ukraine and Europe.
Progressive Slovakia chief Michal Simecka, in the meantime, described the rallies as a reliable response to Fico’s alleged misrule and lack of ability to construct highways or fight inflation.
“Your accusations that some Georgian-Ukrainian-non-governmental-opposition-ChatGPT-Soros forces are accountable for this are ridiculous and insulting,” Simecka instructed the outlet Pravda.
Fico was elected on the finish of 2023 and instantly reversed the earlier authorities’s coverage of unconditional help for Ukraine, advocating for peace talks between Slovakia’s neighbor to the east and Russia. Final Could, he survived an tried assassination by a pro-Ukrainian activist.
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