The Slovak prime minister claims that activists and the pro-Western opposition want to spark protests and overthrow the government.
Slovakia banned Mamuka Mamulashvili, the commander of the Georgian National Legion fighting in Ukraine, and nine others on Friday, January 31, entry into the country. They are accused of participating in an opposition plot to overthrow the government.
Reuters reports on this.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who has an active pro-Russian stance, claims that Mamulashvili has ties to the opposition and the organizers of mass anti-government protests from the Peace for Ukraine association. According to him, activists and the pro-Western opposition want to incite protests and seize government buildings by force. The opposition and activists deny the accusations, although Fico's policies have caused discontent among both Western allies and within the country.
“We can confirm that the Georgian National Legion is behind the protests in Slovakia,” Fico said at a press conference.
At the press conference, Fico showed photographs of Mamulashvili with activist of the protest group “Peace for Ukraine” Lucie Shtasselova and commentator of the online publication dennikn.sk Martin Šimečka, the father of opposition leader Michal Šimečka.
However, Fico did not answer journalists' questions about how exactly Mamulashvili was involved in preparing the alleged coup.
Speaking on Thursday at dennikn.sk, Mamulashvili denied any involvement in the protests in Slovakia. The Peace for Ukraine group said on its Facebook page on Thursday, when the allegations first emerged, that a photo of Shtasselova with Mamulashvili was taken at a public debate in Bratislava in 2023.
The statement said accusations of a connection between the protests in Slovakia and Georgian volunteers were “lies and manipulation.”
According to Deutsche Welle, the Georgian National Legion, a volunteer military unit created in 2014 from Georgian citizens with combat experience, has taken an active part in the military actions in eastern Ukraine. Currently, he is participating in the defense of Ukraine from the Russian invasion as part of the 25th territorial defense battalion of the Kyiv region.
Recall that the day before, a Ukrainian was detained in Slovakia due to the “threat of a coup d'etat.” The police said that they intend to deport him.
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