'There is a worrying politicization of the issue of support for Ukraine,' CSIS Europe expert tells Newsweek.
On September 30, the Smer party of former Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico won a 22.9 percent plurality of the popular vote in parliamentary elections, giving the populist movement the right to attempt to assemble a governing coalition from among the six remaining parties slated to take up seats in the National Council. If Smer succeeds, it could bring about a cardinal shift in Bratislava's support for Ukraine.
"Slovakia has been leading by example when it comes to transferring its Soviet legacy equipment to Ukraine," Mathieu Droin, a visiting fellow at the Center for International and Strategic Studies, toldRobert Fico, lead candidate of the Smer political party, speaks to the media on October 1, the day after Slovak parliamentary elections in which Smer finished in first place with nearly 23 percent of the vote.
Slovakia finds itself in a situation similar to that of Poland, which sent Ukraine materiel including over 300 domestically produced tanks along with a handful of Soviet-era Mig-29s earlier in the war and now finds itself in the position of choosing to prioritize the reconstitution of its own arsenal.
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