Blanar: By Appearing at Protest, Rakusan Dragged Slovakia into Czech Campaign

Bratislava, 17 September (TASR) - Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan, who took part in a protest against consolidation organised by opposition parties in Bratislava on Tuesday, interfered in Slovakia's internal affairs and dragged Slovakia into the current campaign in the Czech Republic ahead of the election to the Chamber of Deputies, Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) posted on a social network on Wednesday, adding that he's instructed the Slovak ambassador to the Czech Republic to convey the Slovak government's protest to the Czech side. "I reject interference in the internal affairs of the Slovak Republic, which I consider to concern the participation of Czech Vice-premier and Interior Minister Vit Rakusan in the anti-government opposition protest in Bratislava on 16 September 2025. Such actions don't contribute to constructive Slovak-Czech dialogue; on the contrary, I perceive them as abuse in the context of the culminating pre-election campaign in the Czech Republic," wrote Blanar. "In this regard, I've instructed the ambassador of the Slovak Republic in Prague to convey our protest to the Czech side," added Slovakia's chief diplomat. Blanar noted that despite the declared private nature of his trip, Rakusan is the vice-premier and interior minister of the Czech Republic, and any stay on the territory of another state is subject to the standards of international law. "Despite the fact that the vice-premier and interior minister of the Czech Republic claims that it was a private visit, his statements in an interview that he gave in response to his participation in the anti-government protest indicate political motivation," said the minister. Rakusan posted a photo on a social network on Tuesday from the protest on Freedom Square in Bratislava. This showed him holding a banner with the Czech and Slovak flags and the words 'We are with you'. "In the Czech Republic, everyone is scaremongering about the 'Slovak way'. Today, I came to Freedom Square to support the Slovaks on their way at a demonstration in favour of a pro-European direction for Slovakia," he wrote alongside the photo. am/df