Slovakian PM Robert Fico escapes death ‘by a hair’ as gunman charged
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A suspected “lone wolf” gunman has been charged with the attempted murder of Robert Fico, the Slovakian prime minister, who was described as escaping death “by a hair”.
Juraj Cintula, 71, was arrested at the scene after Mr Fico, a pro-Russian populist, was shot five times as he greeted a crowd in the western town of Handlova.
Doctors described the prime minister’s condition as stable on Thursday morning, but Tomas Taraba, his deputy, warned that he was “not out of the woods yet”.
The attack has been blamed on deep divides in Slovakian society between pro-Western and pro-Russian and anti-Nato sides, but Matus Sutaj Estok, the Slovak interior minister, said Mr Cintula was a “lone wolf” and did not belong to any political groups.
Mr Fico spent hours fighting for his life and underwent emergency surgery to his stomach after being airlifted to hospital.
His condition stabilised overnight but was still described as “very serious” on Thursday morning. It was reported that he had regained consciousness after surgery.
“The medical team managed to improve the prime minister’s condition, however he is not out of the woods yet,” said Mr Taraba.
He told the BBC late on Wednesday: “I was very shocked ... fortunately, as far as I know the operation went well, and I guess in the end he will survive. He’s not in a life threatening situation at this moment.”
Zuzana Caputova, the Slovakian president, said the heads of all political parties would meet to seek “calm” after the shooting. He added that Mr Fico had escaped death “by a hair”.
Mr Cintula, a poet from the western town of Levice, has publicly expressed his dislike for Mr Fico and anger at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, sent a telegram to Ms Caputova after the shooting.
“I was indignant to learn about the attempt on the life of the chairman of the government of the Slovak Republic, Robert Fico. There can be no justification for this monstrous crime,” wrote Putin.
“I know Robert Fico as a courageous and strong-minded man. I very much hope that these qualities will help him to survive this difficult situation.”
On Thursday, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, told the Izvestia newspaper: “Naturally, we condemn this attack in the strongest possible terms.
“We consider it absolutely unacceptable – this is really a great tragedy. We hope that Mr Fico will be able to pull through and recover as soon as possible. We wish him a speedy recovery.”
On Wednesday, Russian politicians claimed the gunman was a contract killer. Leonid Slutsky, the chairman of the Duma’s foreign committee, said: “There is a high probability that they wanted to kill Fico because of his political views, which do not fit into the stereotypes of the hegemony of the collective West.”
Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, condemned the attack as “appalling” on Wednesday, saying: “We sincerely hope Robert Fico recovers soon and express our solidarity with the people of Slovakia.”
