involved in politics for many years and closely cooperates with the prime minister of slovakia robert fico, here it is worth mentioning a little about his biography and first of all that in 2018 he replaced robert fico as of the prime minister, when he left for rate after public protests against corruption and after the murder of investigative journalist jan kuciak, and until the 2023 parliamentary elections, pelligrini's party was in opposition to the liberal governments of igor matovych, eduard heger and the technical government of ludovit odor. and the flight itself also kept a distance from the party of robert fitz, which dominated at the time, among the opposition, and what is important is that then, as in previous years, pelligrini did not question slovakia's membership in the north atlantic alliance and european union, he closely cooperated with the prime ministers. of poland, the czech republic, and hungary within the framework of the visegrad group and always emphasized the importance of regional cooperation, even after russia's full-scale aggression against ukraine he condemned v

robert fico, the prime minister, he says things like the war in ukraine was started by rampaging ukrainianonised. and peter pellegrini, the candidate of the governing coalition, he very much echoes those words. when he's asked about ukraine, he gives a lot of the same talking points that are coming out of moscow, so clearly, i think, russia sees slovakia as another wage to drive a wedge between the allies of the european union and nato over ukraine. pop sensation, taylor swift will be performing in the uk this summer, as part of her record—breaking eras tour. but police and consumer groups are warning fans to be vigilant when buying tickets online, after reports of people falling victim to scams. here's our culture reporter, noor nanji — and her report contains flashing images. welcome to the eras tour! it's the hottest ticket in town — taylor swift's world tour, which comes to the uk later this year. this has been the most extraordinary experience of my entire life. but some fans, desperate to see the us pop idol, have fallen victim to scams. they include sian williams, who had promised t

well, it's certainly a ceremonial role, but an influential one, especially at a time when robert ficond, of course, slovakia only has one chamber of parliament, one house of parliament, so the role of president is very important. but on ukraine, i think what's happened here with the election of peter pellegrini as president, there will be in two or 2.5 months' time — there will be no senior slovak official who is unequivocally in favour of ukraine's right to defend its territory with weapons. since mr fico came to power in october and reversed the previous slovak government policy of giving ukraine everything it needs to defeat russia on the battlefield, there has been a substantial departure in policy on ukraine. the current president, zuzana caputova, a liberal president — she had been maintaining a very strong pro—ukrainian stance. but she will leave office in two months to be replaced by mr pellegrini, who is seen very much as an ally of robert fico, the prime minister, and so kyiv will have lost at least the official support of the slovak government. so after hungary, it seems th

she has also pointed the finger of blame at robert fico for mac supporters, the prime minister's supportersso it is a pretty difficult time i think to be a liberal pro—western politician, especially a woman in slovak politics today.— especially a woman in slovak politics today. especially a woman in slovak olitics toda . ., , politics today. remind me, how is the winner — politics today. remind me, how is the winner of— politics today. remind me, how is the winner of the _ politics today. remind me, how is the winner of the selection - politics today. remind me, how is i the winner of the selection decided? is it pretty straight forward? is there the risk of a run—off down the line? there the risk of a run-off down the line? ., , , ., ' ~ line? no, this is the run-off. we had the first— line? no, this is the run-off. we had the first round _ line? no, this is the run-off. we had the first round two - line? no, this is the run-off. we had the first round two weeks i line? no, this is the run-off. we i had the first round two weeks ago, and ivan korcok, the former foreign minister, he emerged

negotiate. conclude a peace treaty, if you don't do it, putin will definitely win, that's all, robert ficotor orban, oleksandr lukashenko live in different countries, but it's similar they play and speak according to the same techniques, unfortunately. russia is now increasing the production of weapons, the military economy is in order, but most or part of what is being produced again is no longer going. to the front, and enters the warehouses. german defense minister boris pistorius said this on the air of the ard tv channel. yes, he answered the presenter's question about the fact that in a few years russia may attack one or more nato countries. at the same time, the head of the german defense department noted that there is no magic crystal to predict the future, but - says boras pistorius, if there is an attack, then - a quote. we will have to be able to defend ourselves in order to have... the ability to fight the war that will be forced upon us. well, you have to prepare for it. if not black, then rather dark clouds continue to gather over donald trump. an arizona grand jury has indic

it should also be added that peter pellegrini, like the prime minister of the country , robert fico, who represents the smer party, which is also part of the ruling coalition, opposes the provision of military aid to ukraine, as well as the sending of slovak troops to us. well, the prime minister of slovakia , robert fico, has already reacted to how peter pilogrini became the president of the country and he said that after this the event will surely put pressure on us and we may even suffer from the fact that the slovak people can suffer from that that he chose such a president. quote: the west can to punish slovakia for the fact that its citizens elected a social democrat president. brother peter pillegrini, who insists on achieving peace in ukraine as soon as possible and opposes sending weapons to ukraine. well, this is what robert fitso said in a video message that he published on his page at. on facebook, you know, there is such an opinion, if people choose a pro-russian government, well, for now, or those who support in one way or another the idea of ​​appeasement by putin, the

yes, the prime minister of slovakia, robert fico.a speech yesterday at the ceremony of laying flowers at the slavin memorial complex, established in honor of the soldiers of the soviet army, which was then was called red, who died for the liberation of bratislava from the nazis. according to the head of the slovak government, it is now clear that in ukraine, as he said, there is no talent on the battlefield, in russia - says mr. fico, political plans and goals, according to which it is impossible to allow it to win under any circumstances, therefore mr. fizo again called on the hundred. to sit down at the negotiating table, well, he calls, does he not understand, if there are such disagreements, if there are such problems, will these disagreements and problems allow us to sit down at the same table, which he calls it a negotiation table and to agree, but no, and i will remind you that the ambassadors of the european union and great britain yesterday ignored this event and did not come, although they were invited there. all because th

further about such things, if not orban, then, unfortunately, fico, the prime minister of slovakia, robert ficoelieves that the allocation of multibillion-dollar military aid to ukraine by the us congress will not bring russia to its knees, but will only continue the conflict, he called it a conflict on our territory countries. he said this on the air of tv channel j. according to him, the military support of the ukrainian armed forces will only increase the number of dead and continue the war and will not force the leadership of ukraine to change its position. according to the head of the slovak government, the leaders of the western countries continue to follow a wrong strategy towards russia. instead of peace negotiations, says robert fitzo, they simply continue the war with their actions. and then a short quote from the prime minister of slovakia: the russians will not retreat from. those demands that they have, they will not leave donbas, luhansk and crimea, they will not leave, you can give kyiv at least 300 billion dollars, no, if they gave us 300 billion dollars, then the russians would

he's basically expressing fealty to his coalition ally, prime minister robert fico, who leads this populistd the opposition fears that will give mr fico free rein to carry on doing what he likes. and so far, he's taken a sledgehammer, really, to some of the institutions of slovakia, including its criminaljustice system. next up could be some kind of changes to slovak tv and radio, which will be a very, very closely followed, notjust in this part of the world but i think across the european union. let's look at the war in ukraine next — as of right now there is unfortunaly no end in sight. the head of nato, the defence alliance, was pushing for extra pounds, dollars and euros at a summit this week to help ukraine keep going on the battlefield. but as he prepares to step down, secretary generaljens stoltenberg told my colleague laura kuennesberg what's happening there is part of a dangerous chain of events around the world, with russia working with other countries like iran, and china, in a new authoritarian alliance — part of the reason why more cash for ukraine is so vital now. it will be n

is primarily a leader of right-wing forces, and he fights for the interests of hungary, just as robert ficoight for the interests of slovakia, to get more money from the european union. we are from our own side missed. in the fall: we missed an opportunity to turn to all the countries of the visegrad four at once when fico was coming to power and say: "dear neighbors, your experience is important to us, we understand that there were problematic moments of relations between us, but we ask you to lend us a hand help, i understand that we could not get such help, but we could inoculate them against us , why? , and who asks to hand it to her a helping hand, she can count on, well , at least on weakening the degree of negative rhetoric or not, but for this it was necessary to take an appropriate step and... talk with our partners about one more issue, mr. yevgeny, this is a possible olympic truce, because the president emmanuel macron of france believes that the countries currently at war must stop during the olympic games, which will be held in france, president zelenskyi said that he does not

primarily a leader of right-wing forces, and he is fighting for the interests of hungary, yes just as robert ficoight for the interests of slovakia, in order to receive more money from the european union, we for our part missed the opportunity in the fall, we missed the opportunity to address all the countries of the visegrad four at once, when fico... came to power and said : "dear neighbors, your experience is important to us, we understand that there were problematic moments of relations between us, but we ask you to lend us a helping hand, i understand that we could not receive such help, but we could instill information them from opposing us, why? because in european morality. a country that is bleeding, the way ukraine is bleeding, and which is asking to extend a helping hand to it, it can count on at least a reduction in the degree of negative rhetoric, or not, but for this it was necessary to take an appropriate step and talk with our partners on one more question, mr. yevgeny, it is possible... an olympic truce, because french president emmanuel macron believes that countries currently a

even before the invasion, robert. ficored: the war in ukraine started because ukrainian nazis and fascists started killing russians in donbas. fico doubts the facts of the genocide in buch, criticized the previous government for helping ukraine after the full-scale invasion, published secret data on the transportation of complexes through slovakia s-300. he declared that he would not allow putin to be arrested on an international warrant if he came to slovakia, and already a mandatory program for kremlin sympathizers, he promised to veto ukraine's membership. who has been accused of corruption many times and whom many call a follower of the russian leader mechiar, who at one time tried to build an authoritarian regime in slovakia. there is one more very interesting aspect: many people say, and a well-known political publication writes about it, that a specific situation and a specific ukrainian politician, at that time prime minister yulia tymoshenko. this happened in the winter of 2009, when a gas war broke out between uk

the reform of the criminal law and the media, which was initiated by the slovak prime minister robert fico, provoked concerns among the opposition about the weakening of the rule of law, as well as his external course, the current head of government, unlike his previous leadership, against military aid to ukraine, called and the event to stop it, as well as to start negotiations with russia, the election was won by fico's political ally, let more moderate peter pellegrini from autumn 2023. the speaker of the slovak parliament, even in the midst of the campaign, repeated some of the pro-russian statements of fitz, for example, he promised that slovakia would be on the side of peace, not war, and how it was possible to win with these slogans, analysts who are familiar with slovak politics explained to us, and hence in the realities there, listen, it was a slander campaign against candidate poligrini and robert fitz. rival candidate ivan korchok is portrayed as a warmonger who will involve slovakia in the war, which is of course not true, because the powers to send slovakian troops anywhere,

a few years ago , the prime minister of slovakia, robert fico, resigned for the same reason. he was also considered involved in the murder of a journalist. mass meetings were held in slovakia, which were like a real revolution. but there was a significant difference between slovakia and ukraine, because their conflict actually developed between two sides, the president and society. yuri lutsenko, a politician in the early 2000s , co-chairman of the ukraine without kuchma movement, these tapes were thrown away and became the start of mass opposition actions, which reached their peak after the murder of journalist gong. as we all now understand, this was a murder. part of an active operation by the fsb, and this is proven very simply by the fact that melnychenko, while being on an international wanted list, lived, or was calculated in britain, one day got on a plane, calmly flew to moscow, unfolded the newspaper as if spies had started, so that they could see the date of his staying on red square, as a result , a week later, a delegation from ukraine came to him to negotiate a

a former prime minister pellegrini is an ally of the country's current pm, robert fico, who came to power last october, promising to hold military supplies to key if, as a defender of peace talks, the new slovak president elect has doubled down on his position. as well as quote, i will do everything i can to ensure that slovakia, whether anyone likes it or not, always remains on the side of peace and not on the side of war unless whoever wants to criticize me for that as much as they want. but for further discussion of the big development in slow of politics, we can cross live now to young china grispy, former prime minister of the central european country. thank you so much for your time today, sir. you. oh, how significant is mister pellegrini to win on? perhaps what does it tell us apart what voters in slovakia want? the victory of mr. lee is that of the asa also, they voters that they don't support that politics of the government or risk the fits all even more even more than a done in bottom enter elections and to yeah, i would say, especially in to to questions. question number one,

and he fights for the interests of hungary, just as robert fico will fight for the interests of slovakia to get more money from the european union. we are from our own the parties missed an opportunity in the fall. we missed the opportunity to address all the countries of the visegrad four at once when fico was coming to power, and say: dear neighbors, your experience is important to us. we understand that there have been problematic moments in our relationship, but we ask you to lend us a helping hand. i understand that we may not have received such help, but we could have indoctrinated them against us. why? because in european morals, a country that bleeds, as ukraine does, and which... is asking to extend a helping hand to her, she can count on, well , at least a reduction in the degree of negative rhetoric or not, but for this it was necessary to take an appropriate step and talk with our partners, one more question, mr. yevgeny, is this a possible olympic truce because french president emmanuel macron believes that... countries currently at war must stop for the duration of the olym

unfortunately, the pro-russian candidate petr pellegrini, who is considered to be quite close to robert ficohis is the prime minister of slovakia, won who, when he took office, blocked all possible military transfers of one or another weapon to ukraine, well, we actually understand that... the vector of slovakia's policy is turning sideways of the russian federation, which unfortunately disappoints us to some extent. well, but i must add that it's great that by the time fice came to power, the slovaks managed to give us a huge amount of what they had, that is , they managed to share, now maybe they just have less of everything, that is, not so much we are actually losing, there is a note of positivity and optimism in everything that is happening here in the west. and by the way, our viewers remind you to be aware of the most important things, and those who watch us on youtube and those who watch us on tv that... we have our youtube channel, so please subscribe to it, there are live streams where you can actually leave your comments, and your suggestions, and your opinions, and finally, there

ukraine, as well as sending slovaks to us. of the military, and the prime minister of slovakia, robert fico, has already reacted to how peter pilogrini became the president of the country, and he said that after this event, we will probably be under pressure, and we may even suffer from the fact that words slovak people may suffer from the fact that they chose such a president, quote: the west may to punish slovakia for being elected by its citizens. the president of the social democrat petro pillegrini, who insists on achieving peace in ukraine as soon as possible and opposes the sending of weapons to ukraine, well , robert fizo said about this in a video message that he published on his facebook page, you know what this opinion is, but if people elect a pro-russian government, well, for now , those who support one way or another the idea of ​​appeasement by putin, so let them somehow be friends with putin, and we we will be in the eu and in nato, well, we oppose it, unfortunately, it cannot be done and... which sometimes you just don't understand, you just don't understand, it's banal. do

the prime minister of slovakia, robert fico , said this during his speech to the members of the europeantee of the chamber of deputies of slovakia. at the same time, the head of the slovak government again called for an end to hostilities and the need to sit down at the negotiating table and added that the us participants of these negotiations will be able to offer to introduce some special status for the russian-controlled eastern, for the time being controlled eastern ukrainian regions, and later we will hold some kind of referendum on their future, and in conclusion a very short quote from robert fitz: you can draw castles in the air, but the russians will not make these concessions , it's theirs, i don't know, i just... well, the russians won't give something like that, well, it's already a question of what they have to take from the russians, who will ask whether they will give it back or not, they flood half of siberia with water, there are houses standing in water, then no one i don't care, the main thing is that they won't give crimea, well, that's for the fice, but in general, w

million euros, people simply collect because they understand it, viktor orbán does not understand it, robert ficoot understand it, although he may they understand, maybe there are just some interests and that's all, well, here it is, yes, the czech republic, representatives of russian diplomatic institutions should be in the territory of the schengen zone. limited in movement only by the country in which they work, and the ministry of foreign affairs of the czech republic took this initiative. jan lipavskyi, the head of the czech foreign policy department, said this the day before. and then it was also confirmed to journalists in the ministry itself. in the motivational part , it is said, in particular, that a significant part russian espionage activity takes place under diplomatic cover. accordingly , they want to include the proposal in the 14th package of anti-russian sanctions, work on which is just beginning, and at the moment, czech diplomats are looking for support for their proposal from colleagues from other eu member states. a good initiative, a necessary initiative, but it seems to me

a few years ago... the prime minister of slovakia, robert fico, resigned for the same reason, he waslso considered to be involved in the murder of a journalist. there were mass rallies in slovakia similar to a real revolution. but there was a significant difference between slovakia and ukraine, because their conflict actually developed between two sides, the president and society. yury lutsenko. a politician in the early 2000s, co-chairman of the ukraine without kuchma movement. these tapes were thrown away and became the start of mass opposition actions, which reached their peak after the murder of journalist gong. as it is now clear to all of us, this murder was part of an active operation by the fsb, and it is proved very simply. the fact that we are... in britain, for one thing got on a plane, calmly flew to moscow, unfolded how the spies had started a newspaper so that they could see the date of his stay on red square, as a result, a week later a delegation from ukraine came to him to negotiate a change of course and payment of silence. at that time , a sea of ​​people and i, in

the second round of the presidential elections in slovakia, one of them is directly related to robert ficoter pillegrini, the current one. the head of the slovak parliament, who is apparently going with the support of the current prime minister fitso, another candidate is ivan korchuk, a career diplomat who is more opposed to both pelligrini and fizo, and in every way demonstrates his support for the pro-western course of slovakia, on the other hand , pellegrini in the last period of time, especially... between the first and second round of elections, began to use narratives that are pleasing to russia to a much greater extent, accused korchyk of playing along with nato and the european union union and puts their interests above the interests of slovakia itself, and to some extent pelligrini's behavior can be understood, because he appeals primarily to the voter stefan garabin, who took over. the third position, and which is generally open a pro-russian populist, moreover, a supporter of various conspiracy theories. it is impossible to say with certainty who will win now , because the fact

pass, because now the populist nationalist government, of which mr pellegrini is a part, led by robert ficooon have his man in the president's office. they believe and they fear that that will give him free rein to create what they claim will be a sort of illiberal democracy, perhaps modelled along the lines of viktor orban's hungary. so they are certainly not celebrating this evening in bratislava. to australia next. there are warnings of further floods in new south wales following days of intense rainfall. despite a reduction in rainfall, rivers are on the brink of overflowing, heightening the risk of bank breaches. residents are strongly advised to evacuate nearby and low—lying areas. as the storms have shifted towards the sea, most evacuation orders in sydney have now been lifted. live now to sydney where we can speak to australian journalist emma cropper. how bad has severe flooding been around sydney and new south wales? 1th been around sydney and new south wales?— been around sydney and new south wales? ~ , , south wales? as you can see, it is actually _ south wales? as you can see,

pellegrini has accused ivan korcok of being a candidate of war, something echoed by the prime minister, robert ficoegotiating table with moscow to be a ceasefire. ivan korcok is in favour of continuing support of ukraine. the president is of course ceremonial position and has no executive power, so these claims by the government that ivan korcok would send slovak boys off to fight in ukraine are nonsense, frankly, because the government and the parliament to make that decision. but, ukraine has really coloured this election, and has made it an extremely tense and bad—tempered affair. how slovakia is regarded as an ally of ukraine and indeed part of the eu and nato will really depend on the outcome of the selection today.— depend on the outcome of the selection today. depend on the outcome of the selection toda . :, ,, , :, , : selection today. thank you very much indeed. we will _ selection today. thank you very much indeed. we will be _ selection today. thank you very much indeed. we will be getting _ selection today. thank you very much indeed. we will be getting all - selection today. thank you

standing against him as the candidate of robert fico's government, peter pellegrini, head of the parliamentays ivan korcok is the candidate of war and mr pellegrini is a candidate of peace, especially when it comes to ukraine. he is against, like mr fico, sending military support ukraine and favours a peaceful solution. so two different men, two very different visions of how slovakia should move forward and slovakia's place in the world. rab slovakia's place in the world. rob cameron reporting a few hours earlier. we want to bring you an update now, from the reuters news agency. ivan korcok hasjust conceded defeat in the slovak presidential election. that news coming in in the last few minutes. he has also congratulated his rival, peter pellegrini, on his victory. that coming in just now from the reuters news agency. it does appear that pellegrini is now on course to become the next president of slovakia. moving on now. nicaragua hasjoined mexico in suspending diplomatic relations with ecuador. it's in protest against a police raid on the mexican embassy in the capital, quito. officers arre

robert fitz to consolidate power in one hand. in case of election of korchak, who is the favorite among the bookmakers in slovakia may be a leader capable of challenging fico'sision. that in the country, presidents have limited powers, but they can veto laws or challenge them in the constitutional court. the four russians who died were not in the war with ukraine, but from the breach of the dam in the city of orsk, local media write. the water level in the city and nearby areas is constantly rising, sometimes reaching 4 m. water began to flow in the evening, the dam could not withstand the spring. afterburning and collapsed in two places. rescuers evacuated almost a thousand persons, report to the russian ministry of emergency situations. about 2,500 houses and even more homesteads are under water. electricity was turned off in flooded areas. summonses via sms, this is how they will be served in belarus, the self-proclaimed president of the country oleksandr lukashenko signed the corresponding decree, which was published in the national newspaper. portals of legal information of belarus. during the period of mobilization, such notification will be an analogu