Slovakia says the leader of Georgian Legion has organized anti-government rallies for Kiev
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has accused a Ukrainian military intelligence unit of foreign nationals known as the Georgian Legion of organising anti-government protests in his country.
Fico, who has consistently criticised the EU’s support for Kiev and survived an assassination attempt by a pro-Ukraine activist, told a press conference on Friday that the Georgian Legion and its leader, Mamuka Mamulashvili, are acting as a tool of Ukrainian secret services in Slovakia.
Around 100,000 people rallied in Bratislava and other Slovak cities last week, using the slogan “Slovakia is Europe” and chanting “Enough of Fico!” The opposition has accused the prime minister of being pro-Russian and disagreeing with the bloc’s policy of supporting Ukraine.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Fico claimed that the Ukrainian intelligence, using the Georgian Legion, had attempted to “abuse” the rallies in an attempt to oust the government and force a snap election.
“If something looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, walks like a duck, it is a duck,” Fico told reporters, pointing to alleged ties between Mamulashvili and the group ‘Peace for Ukraine’, which organized some of the rallies.
Originally a militia composed of Georgian nationals seeking to back Kiev, the Legion has since been integrated into the Ukrainian military and is now under the direction of the country’s military intelligence, according to Fico.
The Slovak prime minister has repeatedly pointed to similarities in tactics used in Georgia last year and the ongoing mass protests in his country and Serbia.
Slovakia has officially added Mamulashvili to its list of sanctioned individuals and banned him from entering the country, the prime minister announced. Interior Minister Matus Sutaj-Estok said that a total of 10 individuals have been sanctioned, and that one Ukrainian national will be deported. He did not mention any names, however.
Attacks on Slovakia “have not stopped,” said the head of the Slovak Information Service (SIS), Pavol Gaspar, calling the demonstrations part of a “long-term organized hybrid operation.”
Peace for Ukraine accused Fico and his party of “acting like a bullhorn for Moscow,” and called Mamulashvili and the Georgian Legion “heroic defenders” of Ukraine and Europe.
Progressive Slovakia leader Michal Simecka, meanwhile, described the rallies as a legitimate response to Fico’s alleged misrule and inability to build highways or combat inflation.
“Your accusations that some Georgian-Ukrainian-non-governmental-opposition-ChatGPT-Soros forces are to blame for this are ridiculous and insulting,” Simecka told the outlet Pravda.
Fico was elected at the end of 2023 and immediately reversed the previous government’s policy of unconditional support for Ukraine, advocating for peace talks between Slovakia’s neighbor to the east and Russia. Last May, he survived an attempted assassination by a pro-Ukrainian activist.
