DISINFORMATION

Eternal liberators, ignoring war crimes and undesirable NGOs

Infosecurity.sk presents an overview of disinformation trends that have been on the rise in the last two weeks:

• The disinformation scene, including members of the governing coalition, continues to discount Russia's war crimes. Prime Minister's failure to condemn the attack on the Ukrainian town of Sumy was supposedly due to a lack of information. At the Slavín in the presence of the Russian ambassador, Robert Fico spoke about the historical significance of the liberators from the Red Army. While the PM blamed the West for rewriting history, Blaha bluntly condemned the West for spreading fascism.
• In addition to the glorification of the Soviet Union and the successor (terrorist) Russia, some disinformers again took on the European Union (EU). The central narrative was that neither Russian aggression nor US tariffs were to blame for the unfavourable economic situation, but rather European green policies or the fact that the EU is supposedly gradually turning into a military organisation.
• Two issues in particular lined the domestic political environment. The ruling coalition and allied disinformation actors tried to defend the draft law, which creates unfriendly conditions for NGOs and also risks being used to retaliate against troublesome activists. According to the government, however, this is not about discrimination, but about fighting for transparency and Slovakia free of foreign influences (only Western ones, Russian ones can stay probably).
• The second topic was, quite expectedly, the foot-and-mouth disease epidemic, which threatens both Slovak cattle and the minds of part of the Slovak population. Blaha again mentioned biological laboratories in Ukraine, Kotleba talked about slaughtering horses for the sake of Agenda 2030 and Heredoš raved about South American beef.

Liberators and murderers from the Kremlin

Bratislava was liberated from the Nazi dictatorship by the Soviet army 80 years ago. On 4 April 2025, the SMER-SSD, headed by its chairman and PM Robert Fico, commemorated this anniversary at Slavín (Bratislava's memorial to Soviet soldiers killed during World War II). After the celebration, it was the turn of communication on social networks. After all, the historical legacy of the Soviet Union must be capitalised upon. The ruling coalition and the disinformation scene continue to 'bravely' ignore the brutal attack by Russia on the Ukrainian town of Sumy, but they have not neglected to glorify the Kremlin regime in recent weeks.

Robert Fico may not have enough information to condemn the Russian attacks, but in his speech on the Slavín, he gloried, above all, in his endless gratitude to the Red Army liberators. In an impromptu speech, he did not forget to accuse the West of historical revisionism – the legacy of World War II and of the Soviet Union is supposed to be forgotten by the modern world and the West is supposedly trying to rewrite history. Such a view, of course, cannot be taken away from Fico. The fact remains that the Red Army liberated Slovakia. The fact also remains that present-day Russia, which is also echoing Soviet imperialism and propaganda, is today bombing Ukraine, which it attacked aggressively and in the presence of false narratives. It is also Fico who, from time to time, misuses the historical legacy of the Soviet Union to legitimise Russian aggression.

In addition, Fico has not avoided criticising the ambassadors of the EU Member States. They refused to attend the celebrations because of the presence of the Russian ambassador, Igor Bratchikov. The prime minister accused them of sulking and deliberately forgetting: "Whoever forgets deliberately, whoever ignores what happened during World War II, that is exactly the same as pulling the trigger again." Fico went on to call on us not to let our historical memory be taken away. The reason why he is sounding the alarm in this way? He says he refuses to watch documentaries that show "how those Germans suffered in front of Moscow, what a terrible winter it was there." We don't know where the PM watches these documentaries, but all he needs to do is cancel his subscription. Back to the subject and the explanation of why the ambassadors did not want to attend the celebrations. As Róbert Ondrejcsák, the former Slovak ambassador to the UK, writes, the ambassadors' attendance at an official event is an expression of approval "By their participation, they did not want to legitimise the actions of a state, Russia, an aggressor, which had attacked its neighbour."

The glorification of Russia came quite expectedly in Luboš Blaha's post. Like his party boss, he thanked Russia for the liberation of Slovakia during World War II. Blaha may be a political scientist and should know a thing or two about political history, but he cannot deny his inner lust for demagoguery. According to the SMER-SSD MEP, "no other nation suffered as much as the Russian nation in the fight against fascism." He goes on to say that the absence of ambassadors from Western countries is "an insult to Slovakia. He says that it is "sick if today the West, which devastated Russia in the name of fascism, cannot honour the sacrifice of our liberators from the Soviet army." Yes, Blaha does indeed blame the entire collective West for fascism.

This "logic" of Blaha's is curious to say the least, but it frames well the reality in which the bulk of the disinformation scene finds itself – fascism inevitably only comes from the West, the Soviet Union was (perhaps single-handedly?) victorious against fascism. Let us side with the successor Russia, which today, for no other than imperialist reasons, is attacking a neighbouring state and questioning the existence of the Ukrainian nation.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Juraj Blanár, has also demonstrated his rationale. In his speech, he relied on the rhetoric of peace. He regrets that, even in 2025 "we must continue to persuade and appeal that peace is not a given and that the path to it does not lead to weapons, destruction or killing." In the afterword, he remembers and thanks the heroes and heroines who liberated Slovakia. Presumably without weapons, destruction and killing, in fact without defeating the aggressor. But alas, in Blanár's world, this statement does not at all smack of irony.

In addition to the government coalition, the Facebook page of the Russian embassy in Slovakia was also enthusiastic about the participation of the Russian ambassador, whose posts only sealed the instrumentalization of this anniversary for the purposes of legitimizing Russian behavior in the international environment. In his speech, Russian Ambassador I. Bratchikov also mentioned that "the young generation remains faithful to the precepts of the victors and will not allow history to go backwards." He was probably referring to the young Russian soldiers who are sent to the front to die fighting against the image of fascism in Ukraine created by Kremlin propaganda.

The celebration also served to promote some anti-system actors. From the pro-Russian biker gang BRAT za BRATA (Brother for Brother), to the Vlastenecký blok (Patriotic Bloc) on Russian television, to the extremist and anti-Semite Daniel Bombic, the Slavín gathered the crème de la crème of those who continuously oppose democracy and the West.

The culprit of a devastated economy? European Union!

Another week, more attacks on the EU. In addition to MEPs Milan Uhrík and Milan Mazurek of the far-right Republika movement, this time Robert Fico also joined in. The latter called on the EU to "give a few hours of our time to an honest conversation about whether we are behaving democratically". Fico's post also again (as he did last week) expressed support for Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, who "does not submit to Western dictate".

The Slovak PM is sometimes erratic, but his two-facedness is a safe bet - while he asks for help from the EU to tackle the foot-and-mouth epidemic, he posts on Facebook that "EU authorities... ignore that the government that was legitimately elected in Georgia was organised by the West, that in Romania and France the favourites of the presidential elections were shut down under strange circumstances." In Slovakia, on the other hand "strange NGOs funded from Dutch accounts fabricate reasons for protests on a weekly basis". Fico, in the grip of conspiracy theories and paranoia, sees plots at every turn. The problem is that he not only presents his misguided vision of reality to a wider audience, but also instrumentalises it for his own political benefit.

But lest we get out of practice, let us return to the familiar waters in which Milan Mazurek generalises and spreads hatred against minorities - this time on the subject of Roma settlements. In the plenary of the European Parliament (EP), Mazurek ironically presents the complex issue of social benefits as a "system of positive discrimination" and goes on to say that "many people who do not try hard, do not work and want to make a business out of their children, for example, which they can then live off, are given everything." You can probably guess what Mazurek started his fiery speech with. Yes, roughly, by saying he wasn't a racist and extremist. Just a reminder that Mazurek was found guilty in 2019 of defamation of nation, race and creed.

This non-racist likes to focus on the Green Deal issue in addition to minority issues (sometimes way beyond his capabilities). He criticised the Green Deal in another speech, which he also posted on Facebook, and simplistically identified it as the (almost only) cause of rising prices in Europe. Mazurek mockingly talks about how "with wind farms and solar panels we will defeat Putin and Russia." He adds an accusation about the EU's so-called progressive leadership, which he says is "doing everything it can to destroy industry and antagonise the whole world." He rounds off his piece by claiming that "all its [EU's ] policies so far have only led to chaos, war and a decline in living standards."

Let's face it - Milan Mazurek operates with rhetoric about prices that directly affect people, deliberately. He knows how to capitalize on it politically. By the same token, he would never want the aforementioned defeat of Putin or Russia. He is, as always, looking in the wrong place for the culprit of a bad situation. He is railing against the EU, in whose structures he pretends to defend the interests of the citizens. However, he does not offer any solutions and his ignorance of Russian aggression or new tariffs may even make his work in the EP quite questionable.

The Slovak Minister of the Environment takes a similar approach to green policies. According to Tomáš Taraba, elected for Slovak National Party (SNS), the best response to the US tariffs would be to abolish the Green Deal, which is said to have "devastated the European economy and the competitiveness of industry more than any tariffs". At first sight, it may seem paradoxical that it is the Minister of the Environment who is speaking in this style and without any data. Those who know Taraba, however, know that his relationship with nature is about the same as his relationship with facts. Neither works.

We will continue with the subject of the EU's role in the war for a little while longer, thanks also to Katarína Roth Neveďalová. The SMER-SSD MEP, following the example of some of her party colleagues from the Slavín gathering, pointed out that the EU is taking up arms exactly 80 years after the end of World War II. Neveďalová's approach here is one of sloppy manipulation – the timing of the EU's armaments simply has nothing to do with the historical legacy of the World War II. This is just a play on emotions on Neveďalová's part. The bare fact remains that the EU is 'only' reacting to Russian aggression and changes in US policy.

Rubber law against NGOs

On 1 April 2025, the government passed an amended draft law on NGOs that creates an unreasonable administrative burden for NGOs and, because of its flexibility and rather vague wording, risks being used to retaliate against inconvenient organisations.

For example, it proposes to stipulate that NGOs that receive funds from public authorities (both state and local authorities) will be obliged to disclose information on the use of these public resources. As the Platform for Democracy points out, this regulation is problematic because it imposes a huge administrative burden on both the NGOs themselves and the authorities that provide them with public resources.

The proposal also introduces a vague and ambiguous concept of lobbying, which for the purposes of the draft law is understood as direct or indirect influence on political decision-making. Monitoring lobbying is one of the fundamental objectives of the proposal. Despite the lack of a definition, NGOs are threatened with fines and potentially even closure. Via Iuris, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the protection of the rule of law, has therefore also branded the bill unconstitutional and highly inspired by Russian legislation, which also rails against active citizens. Amnesty International has also described the bill as problematic .

While civil society is also trying to raise awareness of this threat to democracy through protests, the ruling coalition and the disinformation scene are trying to defend the move. It is no coincidence, there is a presumption that the law can be used against the very section of NGOs that expose corruption, foreign influence and disinformation.

That's why we also looked at the topic of the NGO law through Gerulata Juno's analytical tool. We used it to analyse the most popular posts on Slovak Facebook that contained the keywords "NGOs" or "non-profits" („mimovládne organizácie“, „mimovládky“ or „neziskovky“). We excluded from the list those posts that did not contain problematic narratives. We then evaluated the posts based on the total number of interactions (the sum of all reactions, comments, and shares).

The post with the most interactions traditionally belongs to Robert Fico's post. At the beginning of the month, the PM tried to delegitimize the criticism and protests that reacted to the NGO law. Fico rejects the idea that the law is "about foreign agents, such as in the US or Israel." It is probably no coincidence that he mentions these two countries and avoids the term Russian law. In doing so, he tries to blur the fundamental differences between the approaches to regulating the NGO sector. The fact remains, however, that he leans towards the measures we recognise from Russia or Hungary, which are above all characterised by their vagueness and flexibility in the event of the need to demotivate or even remove the watchdogs of public power. Fico has also tried to divert attention to his 'favourite' enemy. He came back with a narrative accusing the family of the leader of Progressive Slovakia, Michal Šimečka, of unfair use of public funds, who, together with the opposition, is said to be "once again abusing the protests". Fico, together with the disinformation scene, did this already last year, when they tried to divert attention from the purges in Slovak culture and the release of former special prosecutor Dušan Kováčik (who was convicted of corruption). Unfortunately, the Slovak PM was not joking with this post on 1 April.

In the second post, published by Erik Kaliňák, there is once again an ode to the law on the non-governmental sector. The young MEP from the SMER-SSD party argues that the law "does not prohibit anyone " and that civil society is only showing a "hysterical fear of transparency". This is said to be proof that "we are moving in the right direction". If we break it down into small pieces, Erik Kaliňák, who is also the head of the prime minister's team of advisors, is pushing a rather simplistic reality to his audience. The fact that the law discriminates and is aimed at a selected part of the sector should not matter, because it does not prohibit anything. It is likely that Kaliňák himself lives in this simplistic and distorted reality – in fact, he himself admits that the fear of a part of society is a good signal for him. In his video, he continues with fabrications to explain to his viewers how "non-governmental activists and the so-called security community" function. The latter was allegedly supposed to take control of Slovak institutions in the period from 2020 to 2023 and to lead a civil campaign "so that the elections would not be won by SMER, led by Robert Fico, because they have decided that we are a security threat to Slovakia". Kaliňák continues the conspiratorial framing with proven narratives about evil American agencies sowing democracy in the world against the will of 'good' autocrats. This is nothing new; these narratives have long been part of the equipment of the disinformation scene, which, along with the ruling coalition, sees (or wants to see) foreign influences behind civic activism.

The third post was published by Robert Fico. The video records his speech in the Slovak parliament, during which he repeated his favourite narratives used to defend the draft law on NGOs. According to the PM, the law is not supposed to be Russian in any way and the opposition is driving people to the protests in order to protect its own interests. Thus, Fico again tried to divert attention from a move that leads to a possible threat to democracy. Once again, he presented his audience with a fabricated image of Michal Šimečka and his 'family clan', which is said to have illegally received state grants in the past. Of course, Fico did not offer evidence even now. He referred only to the fact that the law wants to control the funding of NGOs and that his proposal is based on EU standards, a core message to which the prime minister's minions also adhere. While it is true that the European Commission (EC) is demanding that Slovakia comprehensively regulate lobbying, Via Iuris adds that this proposal does nothing of the sort – it does not define lobbying, on the contrary, it uses the vagueness of the term to discriminate against a section of society. Finally, and to put a smile on your face, the Prime Minister also added to his speech a statement that "this government is not linked to any corruption scandal." So much for the factual quality of what was said in Fico's speech.

The next post in the sequence belongs to Milan Uhrík. The MEP from the far-right Republika movement starred with his short statement on the Slovak protests against the so-called Russian law. He fully showed his ambivalence – like the government, he denied that it should be a Russian law. He even used a great piece of evidence – " PM Fico himself said so". Uhrík delegitimises the fears of civil society – he vilifies the protesters as progressives and claims there is no threat to Slovak democracy. These words from the mouth of a far-right politician, who has had trouble condemning the Holocaust in the past (because he is not a historian), are reassuring. Irony aside, Uhrík's video gives the impression that he made it just to make a comment. It has no content. Neither the video nor the MEP. His message to civil society suffices for illustration: '"You are not worried about democracy. You are only worried about yourselves and your warm spots in Parliament and in the European Parliament." Really? All protesters are worried about their spots in parliaments?

The last post in the series was published by another MEP. In the video, Judita Laššáková (SMER-SSD) invites her audience to engage in a public consultation with the EC and to comment on the forthcoming EU strategy for civil society. There would be nothing wrong with this if she did not begin her performance by praising Erik Kaliňák, who supposedly revealed the true nature of NGOs with his video (yes, the one above). According to Laššáková, it is the EU that is supposed to start financing the so-called subversive activities of NGOs after the USAID programme ends: "We will even pay for our own coup d'état." In the course of the video, the MEP continues her efforts to ridicule the EU's activities against external harmful interference by hostile actors (e.g. Russia), completely dismissing the reality that Moscow's hybrid action may be contributing to the erosion of democracy. She tries to reverse the optics and play on the conspiratorial strings of her audience: '"If you think Slovakia is being manipulated from abroad, then fill that in... when we write foreign, it is not specified here that from which side, whether from the East or the West."' The message is clear – the strengthening of resilience, civil society and democracy in Slovakia is not desired by Laššáková and should not be desired by her audience either. It goes against the interests of Slovakia, which supposedly is not threatened by the East, but probably by the West.

Foot-and-mouth disease daily

The Slovak information space was flooded with misinformation and conspiracy theories about the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) epidemic already two weeks ago. Nothing has changed in the situation, quite the opposite. The disinformers have bet on the proven modus operandi > topics that are not yet dead and can be operated on with fear must be exploited to the last drop.

In particular, the usual suspects of the disinformation scene continued to spread conspiracies about the origins of FMD. MEP Ľuboš Blaha (SMER-SSD) complained on his Telegram account that the last time he conspired about Covid-19, his Facebook account was deleted. As he boasts about himself, he is not afraid to continue asking what he calls "logical questions". He says that he will continue to ask "about the biolabs from Ukraine, about the foot-and-mouth disease that has just appeared in Hungary and Slovakia, and about all your media lies". The problem is that Blaha often does not ask questions, but straight up preaches. He serves nonsense and fabrications to his audience on a daily basis in order to convince them of the existence of mysterious plans or the instrumentalisation of diseases for geopolitical purposes.

Similarly, Miroslav Heredoš rides the wave of medical hoaxes. The former chef and failed politician has continued to reveal shocking truths by making videos. In one of them, he revisited the fact that FMD is supposed to be a military operation by the EU to force Slovakia and Hungary into obedience. Alternatively, it is trying to drive the Member States into accepting the MERCOSUR agreement.

The agreement signed by the EU and MERCOSUR on 6 December 2024 is supposedly not meant to be a matter of chance, according to the disinformation scene. FMD epidemic was supposed to have been created to promote the trade deal and boost beef exports. The narratives about the artificial origin of the disease are, of course, spreading like on a treadmill. This has been helped by the stellar celebrity Soňa Peková, a conspiracy theorist and Czech molecular biologist who became famous for her theories during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a video shared by 40plus, Peková compares FMD to Mad Cow Disease and talks about the role of the so-called politburo in managing epidemics.

Marián Kotleba (chairman of far-right People’s Party - Our Slovakia), who, in addition to his leisure time far-right activities, also likes to delve into epidemiology, also featured. In his video, he referred to a mysterious source according to which the Slovak government will have to eliminate not only cattle but also horses in accordance with EU regulations. These are supposed to be "guidelines under the 2030 Agenda," which Kotleba wants to fight against. He says "enough games of Covid 2025", which is supposed to rid Slovakia of food self-sufficiency. Kotleba did not explain how the horses are related to this.

Project Infosecurity.sk organized by Adapt Institute, which is supported by the Prague office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom, continuously monitors the activities of both Slovak and foreign disinformation actors, but focuses mainly on the former. The project activities are built upon daily monitoring of emerging disinformation, hoaxes, and conspiracy theories in the online information space. This approach allows the analysts to identify disinformation posts and narratives that resonated with the public the most, as well as to find out where they originated, and how they spread and evolved on social media. The report takes the form of a bi-weekly summary of arising trends in the spread of malicious information content online. Based on that, Infosecurity.sk can inform the public about emerging and current trends in the field of disinformation, manipulation, and propaganda.