Slovakia’s chief prosecutor ordered a new investigation on October 30 into the transfer of MiG-29 fighter jets and air defense systems to Ukraine by the country’s previous government, reopening an investigation that had been completed earlier this year. UNN reports this, citing Reuters.
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Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico’s current government, which is pursuing a more pro-Russian foreign policy and has halted military aid to Ukraine, has repeatedly criticized the transfer, made in 2023, the publication writes.
The decision reopens a criminal case at the heart of the dispute between Fico’s government and its predecessors over military support for Ukraine.
Fico said the donation had made the country dependent on allied air force patrols, while a senior official from his party called it sabotage.
The country’s chief prosecutor, Maroš Žilinka, said on Facebook on Friday that he had ordered a new investigation because the previous one had ended prematurely.
"In the course of the preliminary proceedings, the facts were not established to the extent necessary for a decision to be made," he said.
When concluding the previous investigation in February this year, Bratislava regional prosecutor Rastislav Remeta said that a dozen Soviet-era MiG-29 fighter jets and KUB surface-to-air missile systems were obsolete, not fully operational, and lacked pilots and missiles. He said their donation did not constitute a crime.
The then-defense minister, Jaroslav Naď, denies any wrongdoing.
The case illustrates Slovakia’s deeply polarized political scene, where Fico has repeatedly accused his predecessors of bringing cases against his party when he was in opposition, the publication notes.