Slovak president has declined all requests from Slovaks wishing to fight for Ukraine against Russia

Ivanna Kostina, Alona Mazurenko — Monday, 4 November 2024, 18:03

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini has not granted permission for Slovak citizens to serve in the Ukrainian army, despite receiving four requests since he assumed office in June of this year.

Source: Office of the Slovak President, cited by TASR, as reported by European Pravda

Details: Former Slovak president Zuzana Čaputova, who was in office when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, approved several Slovak applications.

In Slovakia, it is a criminal offence to serve in a foreign army without the president's consent.

During his presidential campaign, Pellegrini endorsed current Prime Minister Robert Fico's position on halting the supply of arms to Ukraine from the state reserve, despite having previously supported military assistance to Kyiv.

After being elected president in April of this year, he stated that backing a military conflict that has not produced results in two years is a tragedy.

Background:

According to reports from early November, Czech President Petr Pavel has allowed 60 Czechs to join the Ukrainian military forces.
Four Czechs are known to have died while fighting for Ukraine as volunteers. Among them is Karel Kučera, to whom President Petr Pavel posthumously awarded the medal For Heroism on Czech Independence Day. Karel had travelled to Ukraine without official authorisation or consent from then-President Miloš Zeman.

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