Against the background of tensions between Russia and Ukraine, the Slovak President Zuzana Caputova ratified a controversial military agreement with the US. This means that all the conditions for the legal validity of the contract have been met, the President’s Office in Bratislava announced on Wednesday evening.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Slovakian Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad signed the agreement in Washington on February 3. It enables the USA to expand two military airports in the EU country that borders directly on Ukraine.
The necessary approval of the Slovakian parliament, with which the agreement as an international treaty supersedes Slovakian laws, came on Wednesday after a debate overshadowed by fisticuffs by right-wing extremist MPs. Several thousand people demonstrated against it in front of the parliament building. According to polls, a clear majority of the population is against the military treaty. Opponents collected signatures for a referendum on the treaty.
The opposition parties criticized the fact that Caputova signed the contract without waiting for a possible referendum as undemocratic haste. Government politicians see behind the rejection in large parts of the population, above all, propaganda on the Internet.