The leader of the Direction - Social Democracy party, Robert Fico, said earlier that he considers the decision to donate fighter jets to Ukraine unconstitutionalBRATISLAVA, March 27.
/tass/. "Direction - Social Democracy", the largest party of the parliamentary opposition of Slovakia, demands to bring members of the current government of the republic to criminal responsibility for the decision taken without the consent of the supreme legislative body to donate supersonic MiG-29 fighters withdrawn from the national Air Force last year to Ukraine. The corresponding claim has been sent to the courts, Slovak Radio reported on Monday.
The Social Democrats, referring to the Slovak constitution, claim that the current government, to which the parliament passed a vote of no confidence on December 15 last year and which, on behalf of the President of the Republic Zuzana Chaputova, fulfills its duties until the formation of a new cabinet after the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country in September, had no right to independently make a decision on the MiG-29. Acting Prime Minister Eduard Heger and the ministers are suspected of abuse of office, violation of duties related to the management of other people's property, as well as sabotage. The leader of the Direction - Social Democracy party and former Prime Minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, said earlier that he considers the decision to donate fighter jets to Ukraine unconstitutional.
On March 23, it became known that the republic handed over to Ukraine the first 4 of 13 MiG-29 fighters. Bratislava will receive compensation from the United States and the European Union for the planes. Its total amount, according to Slovak media, will be about $ 1 billion.
The Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) of the Russian Federation said on March 27 that Slovakia's transfer of MiG-29 aircraft to Ukraine is a gross violation of its international obligations to re-export Russian-made weapons. The FSMTC noted that the agreement between the Governments of Russia and Slovakia on military-technical cooperation of April 29, 1997 states that "each of the Contracting Parties will not, without the written consent of the other Contracting party, sell or transfer to third countries weapons and military equipment, technical documentation for their production, information and materials received or acquired as a result of bilateral military-technical cooperation."
As the Slovak media informed, there is no such agreement in the National Ministry of Defense. "There was nothing like this in the archive of the ministry," Yaroslav Nagy, the head of the republic's military department, told reporters.