Slovakia's Prime Minister Fico shot after government meeting

CNN
—

Slovakia's Prime Minister Roberto Fico was shot after a government meeting and is being treated in hospital, the country's state news agency reported on Wednesday.

According to TASR news agency, several shots were fired at Fico. The prime minister's condition was not immediately known, and Slovakia's emergency medical service said it had dispatched a helicopter ambulance to the scene.

The town of Handlova, where the shooting occurred, is about two hours' drive from the capital Bratislava. The government was in town for an off-site meeting.

Slovak President Zuzana Čaputova condemned the “brutal and reckless” attack on the 59-year-old politician. “I was surprised. I wish Roberto Fico all the best at this critical moment to recover from the attack,” Čaputova wrote on Facebook.

Fico won a third term as Slovakia's prime minister in October last year after running a campaign criticizing Western aid to Ukraine. Ahead of the election, Fico made no secret of his sympathies for the Kremlin, accusing “Ukrainian Nazis and fascists” of provoking President Vladimir Putin to launch the invasion, saying the Russian president was trying to justify the invasion. I repeated the false story I had been using.

Although Fico was an opponent, he became a close ally of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, especially when it came to criticizing the European Union.

This is a developing story and will be updated.