PRAGUE, Feb 5 (Reuters) – A Slovak prosecutor on Thursday shut down investigations initiated by Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government claiming that donations of fighter jets and air defence systems by the previous administration to Ukraine were a crime.
Bratislava regional prosecutor Rastislav Remeta said that the dozen Soviet-era MiG-29 jets and the S-300 and KUB air defence systems donated to Ukraine were outdated, not fully operational and lacked missiles as well as pilots. He said their donation was no crime, as alleged by Fico and his aides.
“In the context of the time, value, report by (national auditors), information available, it was not proven that the government had violated fiduciary duties,” Remeta told a televised news conference.
The previous government led by Eduard Heger and including Defence Minister Jaroslav Nad aided Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s invasion, donating equipment in return for a pledge of compensation from NATO allies.
When the Moscow-friendly, leftist-nationalist Fico returned to power in late 2023, he halted government military aid for Ukraine, although he allowed growing commercial sales to continue.
A senior defence official in Fico’s party said last year he suspected the donations by Nad were “the crime of sabotage, or treason, abuse of power and fiduciary duties”. Fico said the donation compromised Slovakia’s own air defence abilities.
(Reporting by Jan Lopatka; editing by Mark Heinrich)
