BRATISLAVA – As Moscow prepares for Victory Day on 9 May, the only two European politicians expected to attend – Slovak PM Robert Fico and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić – have both unexpectedly cancelled their recent programmes, fuelling speculation which Fico has since denied.
Over the weekend, posts began circulating on X and in some media suggesting that Vučić and Fico might not be travelling to Russia for the 9 May celebrations, as reported by the Slovak daily SME.
The Russian outlet 360 speculated, without offering any evidence, whether the two politicians might have been poisoned to prevent them from attending.
Another Russian portal news cited a political analyst who also suggested the leaders could be faking their health issues for strategic reasons.
Vučić was briefly admitted to the hospital in Belgrade on Saturday after he reportedly fell ill during a visit to the United States, which he had to cut short.
Fico, meanwhile, made several last-minute changes to his official schedule last week, including cancelling a planned trip to the United Kingdom. No reasons were provided for the changes.
On Sunday, however, Fico held a press conference and confirmed that nothing has changed about his plans to travel to Moscow.
When asked about his health by journalists, Fico responded irritably, saying, “My health is none of your business,” though he did admit to ongoing issues stemming from an assassination attempt he survived in May last year.
“There are things related to the attack that sometimes prevent me from sitting in a car for four hours. That’s all I’ll say,” the prime minister stated at the press conference. He denied suggestions that he is unable to carry out his duties.
He also criticised recent remarks by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, calling them a threat.
Over the weekend, Zelensky stated that Ukraine could not guarantee the safety of any politicians attending the celebrations in Moscow, as that responsibility lies with Russia.
“It’s extremely disrespectful for someone to tell the country that made the greatest contribution to defeating fascism and suffered the greatest losses: Go ahead and celebrate – maybe we’ll throw a drone your way,” Fico said, ignoring the fact that it is Russia that launched the war against Ukraine and is bombarding it on a daily basis.