Kalinak Has No Problem with Expert Commission to Check Purchases at His Ministry

(STVR, 'Sobotne dialogy', 21 June) Speaking on STVR's politics programme 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues), Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) said that he has no problem with setting up an expert commission to check military purchases at his ministry, as requested by the opposition. Opposition MP Juraj Krupa (Freedom and Solidarity/SaS), also on the show, reiterated that the opposition views these purchases as non-transparent. "I have no problem with that. There are several people in the opposition I regularly communicate with, including Mr. Krupa, or Tomas Valasek (Progressive Slovakia/PS)," said Kalinak. Concerning Slovak President Peter Pellegrini's planned visit to Ukraine, Kalinak hopes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will use the opportunity "to apologise to Slovakia for harming its interests, while Slovakia is helping it". Meanwhile, Krupa is curious how Pellegrini will manage to improve Slovakia's image in Ukraine, which he believes the country has created after the current coalition came to power. The two politicians also discussed the issue of criminal prosecution related to the donation of military equipment to Ukraine. Krupa reiterated that "it will be just a lot of hurrah, a little stink in the space, so that the case continues to live on, but it won't end somehow". Anyway, any suspicions should be investigated, he added. He stressed that the police are not investigating the donation of equipment to Ukraine itself, but only the purchase of old ammunition from a private company that Slovakia donated to Ukraine. The defence minister agreed with that, adding that the persons involved in the case should explain the doubts raised by the European Public Prosecutor's Office. ko