“Ukrainian refugees are afraid that they will be expelled to their homeland”

“It’s time for Slovakia to leave the “club of friends of Ukraine”

Oleg came to the Slovak city of Kosice from Kostroma and works as a service technician at one of the enterprises.

“People in Slovakia are very careful in their statements, they don’t open up with outsiders, they only remark: “Leave politics to the politicians,” says Oleg. “My friend Maros, with whom we fish together and sometimes sit in bars, voted for Robert Fico’s party. He believes that we need to think more about our own people, and not about the interests of NATO. So he says: “Enough. Slovakia has already taken off its “last shirt” and gave Ukraine the air defense system that covered Bratislava.” Not to mention aircraft and large-caliber ammunition. According to Maros, Ukraine has “pliable ears”; they sold themselves wholeheartedly to America, became its slaves, and provoked hostilities themselves. And it’s time for Slovakia to leave the “club of friends of Ukraine.” The country has many of its own problems.

At work, as Oleg says, only three of the team shared who they voted for. Two are for Fico’s party, one is for the Social Democrats from Golos.

“Fico has publicly spoken out against support for Ukraine more than once, saying that he “will not give Kyiv a single bullet.” I think this played a major role. The country is flooded with Ukrainian refugees, especially in the eastern regions. Slovaks are outraged that the authorities are ready to help refugees, and not their citizens, who are now barely making ends meet.

Gas prices increased by 66% over the year, and prices for food and industrial goods went up accordingly. Those who previously could be classified as the “middle class” can now be classified as poor. If a difficult life situation occurs, many Slovaks are unable to pay sudden expenses.

There was an article recently published in the Financial Times. The journalist traveled to the Slovak village of Csonkovce, which is located near the border with Ukraine. There, exactly half of the villagers voted for Fico’s “Smer” party. The villagers shared that they are still ready to help poor, needy Ukrainians. But not to rich migrants driving expensive foreign cars, which you won’t even see in Slovakia.

– People can be understood. In those areas, residents do not live richly, they work a lot and work hard, barely paying the bills. A broken refrigerator is already a financial disaster for many. To buy new household appliances, you need to take out a loan and go into debt with banks. And so they see nearby Ukrainian refugees in Fords and Bentleys, who receive benefits. For migrants “fleeing a threat,” Robert Fico is like a bad dream. They are sad. Many refugees are confident that he can deport them back to Ukraine. Someone has even thought about moving to Poland.

“Remain cautiously optimistic”

In turn, Russian Dmitry, who has been living and working in the city of Zilina for three years, says that his Slovak friends do not think that something directly “tectonic” has happened in the country.

“Everyone I spoke with after the elections remains cautiously optimistic,” Dmitry shares with us. — Robert Fico’s party won the elections, but did not gain an overwhelming majority. She will occupy 42 seats in parliament out of 150. The whole battle is still ahead. Fico will need to create a coalition and form a government. I would like to believe that they will be able to unite with the “Voice” party and other “Eurosceptics”. Otherwise Fico will have to resign. New elections will be announced.

Dmitry says that he would like to shake hands with Robert Fico, who now really needs support.

“In my opinion, the EU and the US will do everything to stop him. They have a lot of “relatively fair methods of fighting” in stock with such winners as Fico. Slovakia is a small country, 5.5 million people live in it, just like in my native St. Petersburg. But if a “pro-Russian axis” of Serbia – Hungary – Slovakia is built, this could undermine unity in the European Union.

As for the mood in the country, according to our interlocutor, people are dissatisfied with the constant pumping of money into Ukraine. The fact that Slovakia “pays tribute” for the sake of a hybrid war against Russia.

“But at the same time, people are afraid that Slovakia will be isolated within the EU, and the standard of living will drop even more. Recently, for example, Warsaw introduced border controls on the border with Slovakia. So far for 10 days, allegedly due to the influx of illegal migrants. But many perceive this as a warning, a definite wake-up call.

“Mainly factory workers and pensioners are happy about Fico’s victory”

Our other interlocutor is Andrey. He is originally from Yekaterinburg, studies in Bratislava at the university to become a philologist and works part-time in food delivery.

“I’m surrounded by mostly young people, with quite progressive views,” says Andrey. “Most of them reacted negatively to the victory of Fico’s party in the parliamentary elections. They are not close to his ideas about banning LGBT people; they believe that a person should always have a choice. Many fear that with the arrival of Fico, Slovakia may leave the EU, which will negatively affect the country’s economy.

As Andrei says, his Slovak friends, with whom he works together, believe that Fico actively carried out an election campaign in rural areas and traveled to villages. How he secured the votes of the villagers.

— The Slovaks around me are sure that Fico’s victory is mainly welcomed by factory workers and older people who remember the times when Czechoslovakia was a socialist country. My friends believe that all these people are far from politics and do not think about the future of the country. A meme is now spreading among Slovaks that it is time to fly out of the country, saying that with a politician like Fico, Slovakia will have no future.

— How do Slovaks treat Russians?

— They treat me well, they perceive me here as a foreigner, they often mistake me for a Ukrainian. When they find out that I’m from Russia, they wonder what I’m doing here. Russians do not often choose Slovakia for travel. Now about 10 thousand Russians live here. But quite a few local residents admitted to me that this was the first time in their lives that they had seen a Russian. Russia is a distant country for them. Many of them would like to visit Baikal or Moscow. My Slovak language teacher once lived in St. Petersburg, and spoke very warmly about the city and its inhabitants.

— How close are Slovaks to us in mentality?

– In my opinion, not very close. Most of the guys who came from the CIS are active, efficient, and know what they want to achieve. But Slovaks are lazier and do not want to do everything on time and quickly. Every Friday is a reason for them to drink. I’m from the Urals myself. Our people are more stern and solid, but here, for the most part, they are simpler and more friendly. They are always ready to help, regardless of your nationality or where you come from.

— Do you have to cross paths with Ukrainians?

— Among my classmates there are many Ukrainians, in my opinion, all of them are good, sensible guys. They don’t see me as an enemy. We don’t have any conflicts. At one time I lived in a room with a guy from Ukraine. Of course, we had discussions. But he had no complaints against me personally.