Hostile to Russia, since Soviet tanks appeared close to their residence in 1968 within the then Czechoslovakia, now the grandmother was happy to take an image with a soldier who fights Russian invaders in Ukraine.
“He was a hero for me,” says 66 -year -old Lucia Staselova in regards to the soldier, whom she met two years in the past in Bratislava, the capital of what’s now Slovakia. “Everybody wished an image with him. I used to be very joyful to take it. “
The soldier, commander of the Georgian legion, a volunteer unit, who fought for Ukraine from the previous Soviet Republic of Georgia, visits Bratislava for a public dialogue in regards to the battle in Ukraine.
The previous picture of G -jj Staselova, a retired charity employee, and the soldier mammal Mamulashvili put her within the fired line as an enemy of the state.
At a current press convention, Prime Minister Robert Fiko identified an prolonged copy of the picture that D -Ja Staselova has Posted on her Facebook pageS He introduced him as proof that she was the chief of a coup plot aimed toward overthrowing his authorities.
G -ja Staselova – a mom of 5 years with 13 grandchildren, church Roman Catholic and founding father of the Slovaki Youngsters Basis – could seem unlikely to be broadcast for a coup. However for Mr. Fico, she suits in to a sinister profile: she is anti-Russian and pro-European and has a protracted recording of participation in non-governmental organizations.
G -n FICO, together with Prime Minister Victor Orban in neighboring Hungary, President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and different authoritarian leaders, has lengthy been suspicious of such organizations, viewing them as brokers of international forces, particularly the US, concerned of their inside.
For these leaders, the efforts of President Trump and his adviser Elon Musk to shut the US International Support Company, which helped to fund non -profit organizations overseas, have been revenge From their lengthy marketing campaign in opposition to what they contemplate to have been making an attempt to impose a liberal, globalist program on their international locations.
In a Facebook post over the past week, D -Fiko congratulated d -n -Musk on disassembling USAID, he accused the company of spending a number of million {dollars} to assist non -governmental organizations and media in Slovakia “for political functions to deform the political system and profit sure political events” S
G -ja Staselova stated her picture with the Georgian commander was “The First and Final Time”, she met him. And he or she added that the youngsters’s charity she co -founded and has been operating for greater than a decade has by no means acquired a penny from USAID, though she acquired assist from a non-public US group, WK Kellogg FoundationS Nor, she continued, is there any US funding for the group during which she is at the moment lively, Peace for Ukraine, The organizer of the final rallies in Bratislava protested in opposition to the slope of G -n -Fiko to Moscow.
“Why are NGOs the enemy? As they’ve been combating for democracy on this nation for many years, “she stated, talking in her residence in a village close to Bratislava.
Michal Simeka, the chief of the most important opposition celebration of Slovakia and within the story of G -n -Fiko conspirator within the alleged coup plot stated the accusations had been “utterly complicated”. He stated he had hoped to take down Mr. Fiko within the subsequent election, however denied a plot to take him away via violence.
“The entire coup story is drawn as much as distract from actual issues,” stated Simeka, pointing to current will increase in taxes, rising inflation and shrinking majority in parliament of the shaky coalition of G -n Fico after the defeat of a number of legislators S
Mr Fico first warned of a coup in January after Mr Simecka known as for a vote with out confidence in parliament. The proposal was derailly after Mr Fico requested the legislators to carry a closed session to debate secret intelligence supplies exhibiting an upcoming coup.
Simeka, who was proven the fabric, stated it was forbidden by the regulation from revealing its contents, however added that “there isn’t any proof of nothing” – solely a darkish misrepresentation of the NGO’s work as a part of a serious undermine authorities conspiracy S
“The prime minister sees NGOs as sinister contributors manipulated by international forces,” he stated. He added that within the eyes of the federal government, the USAID has already changed George Soros, an American financier and philanthropist, born in Hungar, as a chief puppeteer in a supposed international liberal plot.
Michal Vaseka, Program Director of the Bratislava Institute, a European donor -funded analysis group, stated USAID funding performed a serious position in supporting impartial media and non -governmental teams instantly after the collapse of communism in 1989, however, however, however He stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated. He stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated He stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated He stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, stated, this cash was largely dry all through the area after Slovakia, the Czech Republic and 6 different former communist international locations joined the European Union in 2004.
“If People need to get monetary savings, that is not the place to do it,” he stated. “There may be just about no USAID right here
One of many largest beneficiaries of US authorities cash in recent times in Slovakia, in response to official information, is a Slovaka State Agency This funds growth tasks overseas. One other recipient is the human rights League, which acquired $ 300,000 for a mission associated to crimes dedicated through the invasion of Russia in Ukraine, which shares a border with Slovakia.
The US Embassy in Bratislava went to analysis teams, anti-corruption activists and impartial media, however the quantities collaborating had been small-only a number of thousand or tens of 1000’s of {dollars}.
Nonetheless, Vaseka stated, “Fico actually believes that Slovak civil society is funded by People and if that financing doesn’t exist, every part could be calm for it.”
G -ja Staselova stated that G -n Fiko was making an increasing number of accusations after trying to kill him final yr. The federal government at the moment attributes the assault of an unbridled “lonely wolf” and 71-year-old amateur poet with no fixed political viewsHowever since then, Mr. Fico has accuses him of his political rivalsS
Nevertheless, the largest change is the method of G -n -Fiko to Russia and its invasion of Ukraine. He swore through the election marketing campaign in 2023 to cease sending weapons to Ukraine from Slovak navy actions, however since then Running a narrow victory on the urnsHe elevated the verbal assaults on President Volodimir Zelenski and Europe’s assist for the nation.
In December he travels to Moscow For a gathering with Putin, a break within the European Union’s coverage to hunt to isolate the Russian chief.
“I used to be so shocked after I heard that he had gone to Moscow,” stated G -ja Staselova.
Then she stated that her group peace for Ukraine determined that “we should always do one thing.” The group, which has beforehand centered on elevating funds for Ukraine, together with $ 680,000 to purchase an armored automobile for destruction, has begun to prepare protests.
The preliminary protest in December attracted solely about 3,000 individuals, however subsequent rallies held each different week since then, they’re consistently rising in dimension. Greater than 40,000, unusually massive turnout in Bratislava, a small city, participated in a rally final week, organized below the slogan, “Slovakia is Europe.”
Michala Novakova, 23 -year -old, pupil, holds an indication, making enjoyable of the calls for of G -n -Fiko in a coup within the creation: “The place is the coup?”
The occasion included a mixture of younger individuals and protesting veterans who feared that G -n -Fiko wished to deliver Slovakia from the European Union and revive the shut ties with Moscow, who had prevailed earlier than 1989.
“I do not need the years earlier than 1989 to repeat themselves,” says the 60 -year -old Dalibor Voita, an electrician. He stated he by no means appreciated Mr. Fico, a former communist who turned a populist nationalist, however didn’t fear a lot the place he may take Slovakia till the Prime Minister went to see Mr. Putin.
D -ja Staselova stated that she was thrown as a coup plot has led to a flooding of her cellphone with violent messages. However she was comforted by the truth that nobody she knew significantly accepts the accusations. “Everybody laughs,” she stated.
And in the end, she added, the storm will go: “This week I’m the one who assaults. Subsequent week can be another person. “
Sarah Sankurova Contributes to reporting.
