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Slovak PM getting better after assassination attempt, hospital director says

According to Miriam Lapunikova, Robert Fico will complete a full course of treatment at the hospital

BRATISLAVA, May 30. /TASS/. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is getting better after the May 15 attack on his life, the TASR news agency reported, citing Miriam Lapunikova, director of the F. D. Roosevelt Hospital in the city of Banska Bystrica, where the premier is undergoing treatment.

"We believe that his condition will continue to improve <...> and the recovery process will go very well," she said.

According to Lapunikova, Fico will complete a full course of treatment at the hospital. The option of transferring him to another medical facility is not under consideration. Once Fico’s doctors decide to discharge him, the prime minister will continue to receive treatment at home.

Meanwhile, Slovak Deputy Prime Minister Robert Kalinak, who also serves as defense minister, said that it would take a long time for Fico to recover because he had suffered severe injuries. On May 29, Slovak media outlets reported, citing Erik Kalinak, head of the premier’s team of advisors, that Fico had sustained five injuries to his small intestine in the assassination attempt.

An armed attack on Fico took place in the western Slovakian town of Handlova on May 15. The politician suffered gunshot wounds and had to undergo surgery. Juraj Cintula, the 71-year-old writer who attacked the prime minister, has been charged with a politically-motivated assassination attempt.

Fico took office as Slovak prime minister on October 25, 2023. Earlier, he served as prime minister in 2006-10 and 2012-18. The politician has long been critical of the West’s Ukraine strategy, emphasizing that there is no military solution to the conflict, while weapons supplies to Kiev are only leading to numerous casualties.

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Military operation in Ukraine

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