Slovakia Leader In Serious But Stable Condition

May 15, 2024 5:04 am

BANSKA BYSTRICA, Slovakia (AP) — A hospital official says Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is in serious but stable condition. The populist leader was shot multiple times in an assassination attempt Wednesday that shook the small country and reverberated across the continent weeks before European elections. He is being treated Thursday at an intensive care unit. A suspect was in custody, and the interior minister said that an initial investigation found “a clear political motivation” behind the attack. The minister did not specify what the motivation was. Fico has long been a divisive figure in Slovakia and beyond. His return to power last year on a pro-Russian, anti-American message led to even greater worries among fellow European Union members that he would abandon his country’s pro-Western course.