Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot and wounded this Wednesday after leaving a government meeting, the TASR news agency reports, citing the vice-president of Parliament, Lubos Blaha. According to local media, he was hospitalized. A suspect has reportedly been arrested.
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According to the Slovak news channel TA3, the assailant shot the pro-Russian leader four times and hit him once in the abdomen. A Reuters journalist at the scene, outside the capital Bratislava, heard several gunshots and saw police arrest a suspect. The motive for the attack is not yet known.
Slovak President Zuzana Caputova condemned “brutal” attack and wished a speedy recovery to Robert Fico, who became Prime Minister again last year after having already held this position between 2012 and 2018. The populist leader distinguished himself in particular by refusing to continue to help Ukraine militarily in the face of the Russian invasion.
(More information to follow…)