MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Thursday, 13 August 2026 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Wednesday, 12 August): BRATISLAVA - An analysis by the National Security Bureau (NBU) has confirmed that controversial traffic radar cameras contain Russian components and that the cameras could pose a security risk if put into live operation, Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) told a news conference on Wednesday. Soitron, the supplier, will no longer participate in the project, and personal accountability will be applied at the Interior Ministry, he added. Sutaj Estok claimed that his ministry was deceived. He stated that it isn't its role to judge whether Soitron itself was deceived by its subcontractors or whether the company deliberately lied to the ministry. He said that the ministry has a contract only with this company, which has accepted responsibility for the matter. The project itself will continue. According to the minister, the infrastructure has already been built and tested. Head of the ministry's informatics, telecommunications and security department Martin Hrachala explained that Soitron supplied part of the system that is already owned by the ministry, and another supplier can work with it. BRATISLAVA - The supplier of traffic radar cameras, Soitron, did not mislead the Interior Ministry, Soitron Group executive director Ondrej Smolar told TASR on Wednesday. Smolar emphasised that the company worked with the information available to it at the time and does not shirk responsibility for its actions. Smolar said this in response to a press conference held by Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) earlier in the day, where Sutaj Estok said that the Interior Ministry had been misled by the company. According to Smolar, Soitron had never planned to supply the ministry with the cameras for full-scale operation; the use of two cameras during testing arose from the circumstances. "To mislead someone, we would have had to deliberately provide information other than what we had. We had no information other than what we provided to the ministry on an ongoing basis at its request, as well as within the project. That means we certainly did not lie; we worked with the information available to us and provided that information to the ministry," the director said. BRATISLAVA - The opposition Progressive Slovakia (PS) party has called on Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) to release all information at his disposal about traffic radar cameras, adding that if he fails to do so, PS representatives will publish it themselves. According to PS, the cameras don't merely contain Russian components but are Russian-made and capable of much more than measuring speed. Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, PS security adviser Peter Bator and MP Jaroslav Spisiak (PS) called on minister Sutaj Estok to resign. "You also know very well, minister, and this is part of the information at your disposal, that these cameras aren't just ordinary cameras," said Bator. Asked by journalists what he meant by that, he said that he would leave it to the interior minister to explain. If the minister fails to do so, PS will provide an explanation within several days. Bator also noted that the cameras were operating and recording people even during their trail run. If they were to be tested as part of a system for detecting road traffic violations, they had to be connected to it. "For the system to be tested, it had to have data; for example, to identify some vehicles. That means that these didn't have to be live databases, but databases copied into the system, and the cameras had access," he warned, adding that the minister is trying to evade responsibility. BRATISLAVA - Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) must stop delaying a decision on the future of emergency medical services and release the final operating model without further delay, MP Frantisek Majersky (KDH) declared at a news conference on Wednesday. Opposition party KDH warned, one year after the tender for emergency medical service (ZZS) operators was cancelled, that prolonged uncertainty is having tangible consequences for the functioning of the system. "A year of uncertainty can no longer be treated as harmless temporary arrangements. If an operator does not know whether it will be running an ambulance service in a few months' time, it is logical that major investments will be postponed. At the same time, we have information raising suspicions that equipment is being deliberately moved between some stations. That is why we're calling for a physical audit directly at the stations. We want to know whether crews actually have what they are required to have under regulations and documentation," Majersky said. DUNAJSKA STREDA/BRATISLAVA - Jozsef Berenyi is the Hungarian Alliance's candidate for Trnava regional governor. Speaking at a press conference held on Wednesday, the current deputy governor highlighted road infrastructure, education, culture and social affairs as the cornerstone of his election programme. In addition, the Hungarian Alliance presented its candidates for the regional council from the Galanta and Dunajska Streda districts. Berenyi pointed to the specific characteristics of individual regions within the county, identifying the use of minority languages as one such feature. "We were the first region to introduce bilingual blue road direction signs," he said. In this context, he thanked current Trnava governor Jozef Viskupic for constructive cooperation. MARTIN - A bomb threat was sent to Martin University Hospital (Zilina region) on Wednesday morning, hospital spokesperson Katarina Kapustova confirmed for TASR on the same day, specifying that the threat was sent by email. Aktuality.sk news website was the first to break the news. According to the website, security protocols were activated at the hospital, all surgical procedures and scheduled operations were suspended, and the crisis management team was convened. The hospital spokesperson told TASR that no further information would be provided for now and that the hospital would publish a statement later. ko