Fico announced his intention to support a referendum on lifting sanctions against Russia

On May 17, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced on the Saturday Dialogues program that he would support a referendum on lifting anti-Russian sanctions in his country if such a vote took place.

"If such a referendum takes place, I will calmly support it. Speaking for myself, yes, I will support him," Fico said.

The head of the Slovak government stressed that sanctions against Russia often harm the European Union itself.

"You need to understand that if the sanctions were aimed at stopping the supply of certain goods to the Russian Federation, then I do not know. Russia has adapted very quickly," he said.

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April 22, Slovak activist and chairman of the DOMOV party ("Dom — National Party") Pavol Slota stated that the petition for a referendum against sanctions against the Russian Federation had collected the legally established limit of 350,000 signatures. A total of 356,593 citizens signed the document.

Later, on May 5, the extra-parliamentary party of the Slovak Renaissance Movement (SDV) submitted a petition asking for a referendum on the lifting of anti-Russian sanctions to the office of President Peter Pellegrini. As Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the Center for European Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, noted in a conversation with Izvestia on May 6, the desire of Slovak citizens to hold a referendum on the lifting of anti-Russian sanctions suggests that the restrictions acted contrary to the economy and public life of the country.