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Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot and wounded on Wednesday when multiple shots were fired at him as he greeted the public after a government meeting. Fico was taken to hospital by his security detail after the shooting, while his attacker was detained by police. According to local media reports, four shots were fired at Fico as he shook hands with supporters outside a meeting in Handlova, around 150km east of Bratislava. At least one of the shots struck the prime minister, witnesses reported.

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15 May 2024 21:41 GMT Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba told BBC’s Newshour on Wednesday night that Fico “is not in a life-threatening situation at this moment.” “Fortunately, as far as I know, the operation went well – and I guess in the end he will survive,” Taraba said.

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19:19 GMT “There is no doubt” that the attack on Fico was a politically motivated assassination attempt, Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak told reporters outside the hospital in Banska Bystrica. “The inability to accept the will of some part of the public, which some group does not like, is the result that they have worked towards today,” said the minister, seemingly referring to Fico’s political opponents. Earlier, TA3 News published a video in which the detained suspect told police that he shot Fico because he “disagreed” with his government’s policies.

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17:44 GMT Fico’s security detail was “not in order,” the former head of the Office for the Protection of Constitutional Officials, Juraj Zabojnik, told Dennik N. “When four or five shots are fired, someone is guilty. I didn't see anyone jumping in front of the prime minister,” Zabojnik said. The security team should have placed operatives among the crowd, he continued, adding that while “it may happen that the first shot gets out,” Fico should have been shielded from any subsequent shots.

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17:40 GMT Fico is still being operated on, Labor Minister Erik Tomas told TV Markiza. The operation will take a long time as several of the prime minister’s organs were damaged, Tomas said.

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17:01 GMT Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he was “indignant” to hear of the “heinous” attempt on Fico’s life. “I know Robert Fico to be a courageous and strong-spirited man. I very much hope that these qualities will help him to withstand this difficult situation,” Putin said in a statement.

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16:28 GMT The Ta3 TV network has named the attacker as Juraj Cintula, born in 1953. Cintula is reportedly a poet and founder of the Slovak Association of Writers, and a supporter of the opposition Progressive Slovakia party.

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15 May 2024 14:08 GMT Fico was hit “multiple times” and his condition is “life-threatening,” the prime minister’s office announced on Facebook. He is currently being airlifted from Handlova to a hospital in Banska Bystrica as flying him to Bratislava would take too long, Fico’s office added. “The next few hours will decide” whether he survives, the statement concluded.

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13:58 GMT Fico was “wounded in the abdomen and chest,” Slovakia’s Pravda news outlet reported. Other media outlets described his condition as “serious.”

Our CIA and other spook agencies routinely orchestrate assassinations around the globe. It’s not unreasonable to suspect US or Ukrainian or some other agencies to approach and facilitate a willing “patriot” to carry out a necessary and worthy duty, especially if he believes in it.

But the bottom line is we don’t know and may never know. It could just be a loose cannon Prog wacko.