Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico is in critical condition after he was shot multiple times in an attempted assassination on Wednesday, according to a statement on his official Facebook page.
“He has been shot multiple times and is currently in life threatening condition,” Fico’s account stated . “The next few hours will decide.”
The assassination attempt occurred after a meeting and subsequent press conference in the town of Handlova while Fico greeted supporters. Slovakian president Zuzana Caputova wrote in a post on X that she was “utterly shocked by today’s brutal attack,” which she condemned “in strongest possible terms.”
“I wish him lot[s] of strength in this critical moment and early recovery,” Caputova said. “My thoughts are also with his family and close ones.”
Caputova gave a televised address after the shooting in which she, a political rival of Fico, argued that the rise of domestic tensions in Slovakia — mirroring the politics of many other countries in the region — is to blame for the violence.
“A physical attack on the prime minister is, first of all, an attack on a person, but it is also an attack on democracy,” she said. “Any violence is unacceptable. The hateful rhetoric we’ve been witnessing in society leads to hateful actions. Please, let’s stop it.”
Caputova also said that a suspect had been arrested and is in law-enforcement custody.
Also weighing in was Peter Pellegrini, former prime minister and the country’s president-elect. Pellegrini, an ideological ally of the populist-oriented Fico, expressed concern over the prospect of continued political violence.
Describing the attempted assassination as “an unprecedented threat to Slovak democracy,” Pellegrini warned that “if we express other political opinions with pistols in squares, and not in polling stations, we are jeopardizing everything that we have built together over 31 years of Slovak sovereignty.”
Fico is an opponent of providing aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia, and has aligned with Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, according to the New York Times. He has cast supporters of Ukraine as disloyal lackeys of the United States, according to the Times.
Despite Fico’s shaky relationship with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, the European Union head wrote on X that she condemns “the vile attack on Prime Minister Robert Fico.”
“Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good,” von der Leyen wrote. “My thoughts are with PM Fico and his family.”