Trukhachev Vadim Vadimovich – PhD in History, Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Regional Studies and Foreign Policy, Russian State University for Humanities (RSUH).
The article examines the attitude of the leading political forces of Slovakia and the Czech Republic towards Russia. Since 2014, this topic has been constantly present in the political life of Slovakia and the Czech Republic. After the start of the Russian Special Military Operation (SMO) in Ukraine, all leading political figures and parties of both countries expressed their attitude to this event. If before 2022, statements concerning Russia were mainly related to the topic of support by the Slovaks and Czechs for the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the European Union, then after the start of the SVO, the question of the need for military assistance to Ukraine was also added. In 2014–2024, both Slovakia and the Czech Republic expressed polar, sometimes diametrically opposed, opinions regarding policy towards Russia. Throughout this period, the nature of relations between these countries and Russia depended on which particular coalition of parties was in power. A striking example is the return to power in Slovakia in 2023 of R. Fico, who refused to support Ukraine. Right-wing pro-European parties in both countries have always been among the harsh critics of Russia, left-wing parties in this sense were more moderate, and right-wing Eurosceptics from among Slovak and Czech nationalists could even be considered «Russophiles» and opponents of the introduction of anti-Russian sanctions. The very fact of the start of the SMO did not significantly affect the existing approaches to Russia in both countries, except that the former president of the Czech Republic, M. Zeman, radically changed his point of view. The Slovak political field is more favorable towards Russia than the Czech one, therefore Russian-Slovak relations were at a higher level in 2014–2024 than Russian-Czech ones.
Slovakia, Czech Republic, anti-Russian sanctions, Russian Special Military Operation (SMO), Slovak political parties, Czech political parties.
Download text