Interior Ministry: It's Legitimate Goal to Deal with Hybrid Threats (2)

Bratislava, May 31 (TASR) - It's legitimate when state administration experts deal with hybrid threats and devise plans to defend the state against them, the Interior Ministry stated on Wednesday. The ministry was responding to claims by Smer-SD chair Robert Fico, who stated that Slovak experts called the political opposition a hybrid threat at their EU and NATO meetings in Brussels. The National Security Authority (NBU) confirmed the presence of its representative at the meeting in April. Its spokesperson added that the meeting revolved around the European fight against disinformation and hybrid threats. "This was a standard working visit in the sphere of hybrid threats, attended by state institutions and NGOs at the invitation of the European Commission's Representation to Slovakia. The Interior Ministry emphatically objects to conspiracy theories, the aim of which is to unsettle voters in Slovakia," said ministry spokesperson Zuzana Eliasova. The Interior Ministry underlined that all of its activities in the field are apolitical, and one of the main goals is to protect election processes. In this vein, it announced that a communication campaign aimed at eliminating the influence of disinformation and hoaxes will be launched in the imminent future. The ministry declined to comment on Fico's claims, though. "We reject any attempt to drag the expert community and state officials into the election campaign of any political party," added Eliasova. NBU stated that a representative of the Security Studies Institute, with longstanding specialisation in hybrid threats, was present at the meeting. "We were among the first central bodies of state administration to create specialised units in this field within their organisational structures," said NBU spokesperson Peter Habara. NBU is prepared to submit any further information to relevant state supervisory bodies. Earlier in the day, Smer-SD chair Fico claimed that a group of Slovak state bureaucrats and NGOs informed EU and NATO officials in April that the Slovak political opposition poses a hybrid threat and that if it wins the parliamentary election, Slovakia might leave NATO. According to Fico, the group allegedly asked the EU and NATO for an intervention and for a "special NATO group" to be dispatched. Because of this, Fico wants to convene an extraordinary House session. mf/df