Fair enough: Fico went to a military parade for dictators. Next to Putin, a communist secretary or a military junta commander stood up.
Going on an official visit to the Russian leader requires quite a strong stomach these days. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico can currently boast such a nature. He eagerly shook hands with the representative of a country that regularly launches attacks on Ukrainian civilians, including schools, children's playgrounds, or hospitals. Going to admire the display of Russian military machinery, which is behind the mentioned atrocities, mainly attracted leading world dictators.
For Vladimir Putin's regime, May 9th is a crucial holiday, through which the history of Russia's role in World War II is interpreted, which is still used as an argument in Putin's geopolitical ideas about spheres of influence. And while the world celebrates Victory Day on May 8, when the capitulation of Nazi Germany was indeed signed, Russians celebrate only on May 9, partly due to time differences and also due to their unique role in this conflict.
Russia, among other things, entered the war as Hitler's ally by attacking Poland, which they do not consider an act of war, but a special operation, and they opposed Hitler only under duress when the Germans actually attacked Russia.
Fico did not make excuses as stupidly as Orbán, he is not averse to Nazism
Soviet troops then spilled across all of Eastern and Central Europe and stopped at Berlin. The Red Army did not inadvertently liberate countries under Nazi yoke, but wanted to spread the Bolshevik revolution here and expand its spheres of influence, whichsucceeded later.
The role of the Red Army was certainly controversial. Given the atrocities currently being perpetrated by the Russian army in Ukraine, it is somewhat strange to join the celebrations of Russian militarism in Moscow, in which the truly significant role of the Russian nation in the defeat of Nazism is only background.
However, Robert Fico sensed an opportunity to make himself interesting. Participation in the event was too strong a coffee even for Putin's closest ally among EU representatives Viktor Orbán. He excused himself for the unflattering role of Hungary as Hitler's ally during the war.
This argument did not stand with Fico, although the Slovak state was also on the side of the Nazis. Even the Russians, through the Ribbentrop-Molotov pact, were not opposed to alliances with Nazism. The Slovak Prime Minister thus did not lower himself to such a transparent excuse as Orbán.
"Unfortunately, today's Russia behaves in some respects as Nazi Germany once did. It disrespects international law, respects the law of the stronger, attacked a sovereign country and has been waging an aggressive war with it for more than three years,"
summarized the parallels to the 80th anniversary of the end of World War 2 by the Czech president Petr Pavel according to ČTK.
Fico undoubtedly learned something useful in Moscow
Not all fellow citizens of President Pavel suffer from a similar disgust towards Nazi manners. MEP for the nationalist-communist movement Enough! Ondřej Dostál also went to Moscow, but there was no honorary place behind Putin's back for laying wreaths as for Fico, so he backed off and began to argue that he was not participating in the parade not participating.
However, Robert Fico didn't have to fear his loneliness in Moscow. Si-Jin Ping was not missing from the event. The Chinese president, who abolished the rule of his predecessors about alternating power, made himself a lifelong ruler in the communist regime. His colleague To Lam can be proud of the title of Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam. This position was made famous by Josip Stalin, who is admired by Vladimir Putin and is also considered to be the biggest mass murderer in human history (naturally, he competes for this title with Hitler and Mao-Tse Tung).
The company of statesmen is understandably multicultural. So, in a modest uniform, captain Ibrahim Traoré from Africa arrived, the leader of the military regime of one of the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Faso. Traoré is accompanied by bodyguards sent by Putin, who do not hesitate to contribute with military or political advice. Similar advisors from Russia once, for example, advised Klement Gottwald to execute his colleague and friend Rudolf Slánský.
Sources: author's text, commentary, defense.gov, idnes.cz, seznazpravy.cz, ČTK
Robert Fico could certainly learn a lot in this selected society. Perhaps why not to worry if the current Slovak opposition were to win the next election, as suggested by current opinion polls. Visitors to the Russian Victory Day certainly don't worry about free elections in their countries.
