The Slovak parliament has approved a controversial military agreement between the republic's leadership and the United States. The treaty gives Washington the right to use air bases and other military installations in the country, in which the opponents of the agreements see a threat to the sovereignty of the state and the danger of drawing the country into confrontation with Russia. In return, Slovakia should receive $100 million to modernize its military infrastructure. Why in the republic the treaty with the United States is called a threat to the country and whether it is beneficial to Bratislava - in the material. Slovak parliamentarians by a majority supported the agreement on defense cooperation between the state and the United States. 79 of the 140 deputies present voted “for”, 60 parliamentarians voted “against”, and only one of the legislators abstained - he was the speaker of parliament, the leader of the party “We are a family” (part of the ruling coalition) Boris Kollar.

The main opponents of the document were the opposition parties "Direction - Social Democracy" under the leadership of former Prime Minister Robert Fico and the nationalist "People's Party - Our Slovakia". At the same time, they were also joined by six MPs from We are a Family and two MPs from the ruling Ordinary People Party (OLANO).

Fico announced that the agreement was unprofitable for the state and did nothing for Slovakia, including for the sake of strengthening defense.

The head of the "People's Party" Marian Kotleba announced that support for the treaty with the United States would be nothing more than a betrayal of the Slovak Republic, approved by parliament.

Bratislava and Washington concluded a military agreement on February 3 after talks between Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nadem and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken in Washington. According to the document, Slovakia agreed to provide the United States with its military airfields Malacky-Kuhina and Sliac, as well as several other facilities, for free use for 10 years. In return, the States promised to allocate $ 100 million to Bratislava for the modernization of defense infrastructure.

The document itself caused a lot of controversy within Slovakia from the moment of discussion. It began in 2018, when the country's parliament was controlled by the Social Democrats, and Robert Fico served as prime minister. Under him, an agreement with Washington was never reached, and with the transition to the opposition, the ex-premier became one of the main critics of the project.

Since January, protests organized by opponents of the document have been held in Slovakia. The demonstrators opposed the "surrender of the country" to the United States and criticized NATO. Those who disagreed with the document assured that the transfer of military bases would be a step towards the loss of state sovereignty. The same Fico assured that the main goal of the agreement was to bring the US Armed Forces closer to the Russian border in the face of growing tension in relations between Moscow and the West.

Oil was added to the fire by materials from various media, according to which Washington is going to use the territory of Slovakia to train the Ukrainian military against the backdrop of the threat of Russia's "invasion" of Ukraine, which the United States has been talking about since the fall of 2021. And although the Slovak leadership denies such plans, the authorities support the strengthening of NATO's presence in the country because of the "Russian threat."

The high point in this confrontation was the meeting of parliament on February 8, which led to a diplomatic scandal due to a skirmish between the opposition and the ruling coalition.

Representatives of the ruling forces unfurled the Ukrainian flag, while opponents of the agreement flooded it with water and tore out the agreements. The Slovak Foreign Ministry eventually had to apologize to Ukraine for the incident.

At the same time, society is on the side of the opposition in the issue of an agreement with the United States. According to a MEDIA poll, 64% of Slovaks oppose the deployment of American soldiers in the country. Moreover, 51% of those polled rejected the agreement with the United States. Only 32% of respondents approved this decision of the authorities. And according to a study by Focus, more than 44% of Slovaks believe that the US and NATO are responsible for the increase in tensions in Ukraine. Only 34% believe that Russia is to blame.

Back to news and foreign policy of the RSUH Vadim Trukhachev.

“Slovaks, like the Czechs, fear the presence of foreign troops on their territory - the vast majority of Slovaks oppose the deployment of American forces in the country. These sentiments, of course, are exploited by opposition parties, first of all, the “Direction - Social Democrats” and nationalists from the “People's Party - Our Slovakia,” the expert noted.

At the same time, Oksana Petrovskaya, Deputy Head of the RISS Center for Humanistic Studies, pointed out that

The arguments of the opponents of this agreement are that Slovakia may lose its independence and this is not at all what the Slovaks expect from cooperation within NATO.“The agreement provides for the transfer of two military airports entirely to the US military for 10 years. The Slovaks are afraid that the United States may use these facilities as it sees fit, including for purposes that are completely contrary to the interests of Slovakia. They fear that in this way the republic may be drawn into some kind of conflict. In particular, the Slovaks do not want to be drawn into the Ukrainian conflict at all. They are very afraid that Slovakia will turn into a base where the Americans will train Ukrainians and then send them back to Ukraine,” the expert explained.

What Slovakia will gain and lose

At the same time, the fears of the opponents of the document in this case are quite specific, but the arguments of the supporters of the agreement are rather ephemeral. In particular, it is not entirely clear what a positive agreement with the United States can bring for Slovakia - in addition to $ 100 million for military infrastructure for 10 years of free rent of its military facilities.

At the same time, according to Vadim Trukhachev from the Russian State Humanitarian University, the United States as a whole can invest in the Slovak economy.

“Probably, we are talking about some kind of investment in the Slovak economy by American companies or, possibly, by Dutch companies, because before the visit of US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte visited the country. Therefore, it is possible that this decision can somehow strengthen the financial position of Slovakia. In addition, the agreement may strengthen the republic's position as a responsible member of the Euro-Atlantic community.

That is, in the West, they will no longer look at it as a conductor of Russian influence, which Slovakia has been suspected of in the last decade, ”the expert believes.

In turn, Oksana Petrovskaya from RISS believes that the authorities are actively trying to convince the Slovaks that the US agreement is good for the state, since the Americans will provide assistance to the country.

“However, it is still difficult to say what the Slovaks will really get from this agreement. Can they really get something from the United States, or will it later turn out that they themselves will have to feed and support the American military. For example, this happened with Poland, the deployment of US soldiers became a burden for the host country, ”added the expert.

At the same time, Daniil Chugunov, head of the Center for Eastern European Studies at MGIMO, is sure that such agreements in no way limit the national sovereignty of Slovakia in the form in which Robert Fico assumes such a limitation.

“Slovakia has been a member of NATO for several years, it has assumed a number of obligations, as well as received some rights - this is an interconnected process. Within its framework, such voluntary agreements with the Americans are often implemented. Considering the wording contained in the document under discussion, we are talking about a limited and temporary provision of Slovak military facilities to American representatives. In addition, access can always be denied if it threatens the security of Slovakia itself,” the expert concluded.

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