PRAGUE, February 13. /TASS/. A rally in support for Russia and against the expansion of Slovakia’s military cooperation with the United States was held in front of the Russian embassy in Bratislava on Sunday, Vitaly Zhitnyuk, a spokesman for the Russian embassy, told TASS.

According to Zhitnyuk, about 100 activists took part in the rally. "They held Russian and Slovak flags. The expressed their serious concerns over Slovakia’s agreement on military cooperation with the United States," he said.

Parties of the Slovak parliamentary opposition earlier demanded a nationwide referendum be organized on the issue of the annulment of the military cooperation agreement with the US. The document was approved by parliament on Wednesday and signed by President Zuzana Caputova on the same day

Ten days ago, MEDIAN pollster released the results of an opinion poll indicating that 35% of Slovak nationals are categorically against this agreement. Nineteen more percent think that it is inexpedient for the republic. Fifty-six percent of respondents said that the government should have held a nationwide referendum on this matter and only 15% of those polled supported the expansion of military cooperation with the US.

The agreement allows US forces to use Slovak Malacky (in the west of the country) and Sliac (in the central part of the country) airbases. Apart from that, the US military will be able to use other military facilities in that country in exchange for US financing to the Slovak army. The agreement currently estimated at 100 million US dollars was signed for a term of ten years with a possible automatic prolongation.

The agreement came under criticism by Slovak politicians and public activists. Thus, Slovakia’s former Prime Minister (2006-2010, 2012-2018) Robert Fico, who is now the leader of the Direction-Social Democracy party, said that the only goal of the military cooperation agreement between the United States and Slovakia is to deploy US troops closer to the Russian border. Meanwhile, Slovakia’s Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok said on January 12 that the Americans will not be able to build military facilities and deploy their troops in Slovakia without its consent.