Slovakia Restores Military Ties with Russia, Sparking NATO and Espionage Concerns

Slovakia has moved to restore military-diplomatic ties with Russia, appointing two officers to serve in Moscow while preparing for the arrival of a Russian military attaché in Bratislava. The decision marks the first time such representation has been reestablished since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but it has ignited a fierce political debate over national security and alliance integrity.

Brigadier General Slavomir Staviarsky and his deputy, Colonel Ivo Gahir, have been deployed to the Russian capital, with Staviarsky reportedly arriving in August. According to reports from the Slovak news outlet Aktuality.sk, the incoming Russian officer is identified as Maxim Verezan. While Verezan has received Slovak approval, he has not yet appeared on the official list of accredited military attaches, and the Defense Ministry has declined to confirm his arrival date.

The move follows a meeting in May between Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, where Fico stated that bilateral relations should transcend energy dependencies. However, opposition figures argue the appointment offers minimal strategic benefit while exposing Slovakia to significant intelligence threats.

Martin Poliacik, a former MP from the Progressive Slovakia party, told DW that the appointment is primarily a political signal rather than a substantive operational change. He urged NATO allies to monitor both the activities of the incoming officer and the broader political environment in which he will operate. Opposition defense experts warned that a Slovak attache in Moscow would likely be closely surveilled and yield little useful intelligence, whereas the reciprocal Russian posting could facilitate espionage and disinformation campaigns on Slovak soil.

These concerns have revived memories of a major espionage scandal from several years ago involving Sergei Solomasov, the then-deputy military attache at the Russian embassy in Bratislava. In 2021, Solomasov was caught on video recruiting and paying Bohus Garbar, a contributor to the pro-Russian website Hlavne spravy. Solomasov was expelled the following year, and Garbar was later convicted of espionage and bribery.

Government supporters have defended the reinstatement as a necessary measure for gathering information and maintaining standard diplomatic protocols. Richard Gluck, chairman of parliament’s defense and security committee and a member of Fico’s Smer party, argued that ending the presence had been a mistake. He noted that American, British, and French military diplomats remain in Moscow, suggesting Slovakia was losing valuable intelligence capabilities. Slovak military intelligence stated that Staviarsky’s role is to assess the security and military-political landscape and report back to the Defense Ministry.

Critics, however, remain unconvinced. Retired Lieutenant General Pavel Macko, a former deputy chief of defense, described the decision as a “very serious step.” Macko emphasized that the threat landscape has deteriorated rather than improved since 2022, citing ongoing Russian aggression in Ukraine and increased hostile hybrid activities against Slovakia and its neighbors. He pointed to recent incidents, including a foiled plot to burn down a Ukrainian-owned drone factory in eastern Slovakia and suspicions linking operations based in Slovakia to incidents in Munich and Leipzig, Germany.

Macko also raised alarms about potential political interference in Slovakia’s intelligence services and the government’s pro-Russian stance, warning that these factors could damage intelligence-sharing and erode trust among NATO partners, despite the presence of professional and trustworthy officers within the system.

Poliacik suggested that political calculus may be driving the decision, given that Prime Minister Fico is looking ahead to next year’s elections. Poliacik speculated that Fico aims to build a narrative positioning himself as the only leader capable of negotiating peace with Putin, a stance that requires portraying close ties with Moscow as essential. This strategy, Poliacik noted, may also serve to divert attention from Slovakia’s role in supplying ammunition to Ukraine through commercial contracts.

While acknowledging that Slovakia formally meets its NATO obligations, Poliacik cautioned that compliance does not guarantee political trust. “Predictability, however, is not the same as reliability,” he concluded.