What we know about the assassination attempt on Slovakia's prime minister
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Slovakia's prime minister expected to survive after shooting

By Elise Hammond, Maureen Chowdhury, Adrienne Vogt and Tori B. Powell, CNN

Updated 9:30 p.m. ET, May 15, 2024
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5:24 p.m. ET, May 15, 2024

What we know about the assassination attempt on Slovakia's prime minister

From CNN staff

Robert Fico walks during the European Council summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels, on April 18.
Robert Fico walks during the European Council summit at the EU headquarters in Brussels, on April 18. Kenzo Tribouillard/AFP/Getty Images/File

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico is undergoing surgery after being shot five times Wednesday in an assassination attempt, according to officials.

The gunman is in custody and no one else was injured in the attack, they said.

Fico won a third term as Slovakian prime minister last October after running a campaign that criticized Western support for Ukraine.

Here's what we know:

  • What happened: The shooting took place after an off-site government meeting in the central Slovak town of Handlova. The suspected gunman was among a small crowd of people waiting to greet the prime minister on the street outside the cultural center where the meeting took place, local media reported.
  • His condition: Fico is “still fighting for his life,” according to Robert Kaliňák, Slovakia's minister of defense. Kaliňák said Fico "suffered multiple injuries," but did not provide any details when reporters asked if the prime minister was shot in the stomach.
  • Politically motivated: Based on “initial interviews with the suspect,"  Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said the assassination attempt was politically motivated. He said the suspect decided to carry out the attack after the presidential election. The ministers, Eštok and Kaliňák, blamed rising hate speech and division for the political atmosphere in the country.
  • Reaction: Slovakia’s President Zuzana Caputova said the assassination attempt was “also an attack on democracy" and an opposition member of Slovakia’s parliament, Maria Kolikova, called it “an attack on the internal security” of the country. US President Joe Biden expressed alarm at the attempted assassination, calling it a “horrific act of violence.” Various other NATO and European Union leaders, as well as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, also condemned the attack.
  • Tie to Russia: Russian President Vladimir Putin called the attack a “monstrous crime.” Fico is known to be a Kremlin sympathizer. He had previously blamed “Ukrainian Nazis and fascists” for provoking Putin into launching the invasion of Ukraine.
3:37 p.m. ET, May 15, 2024

Putin calls Fico’s assassination attempt a "monstrous crime”

From CNN’s Mariya Knight

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the assassination attempt on Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico a “monstrous crime.”

“There can be no justification for this monstrous crime,” Putin said in a message sent to Slovakia's President Zuzana Caputova.

The Russian leader also said he knows Fico as “a courageous and strong-willed man,” the qualities that Putin hopes will help Fico overcome “this difficult situation.”

Some context: Fico is known to be a Kremlin sympathizer. He had previously blamed “Ukrainian Nazis and fascists” for provoking Putin into launching the invasion of Ukraine, repeating the false narrative Russia’s president has used to justify his invasion.

3:24 p.m. ET, May 15, 2024

Slovakian ministers blame rising hate speech and division for atmosphere that led to attack on prime minister

From CNN’s Ivana Kottasova

Slovakia’s defense and interior minister blamed rising hate speech and division for the political atmosphere in the country, which they said led to the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico. 

Speaking to reporters outside the hospital where Fico is being treated, Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák said: “This needs to stop immediately. I beg you, please. Hate is not an answer to hate.”

Visibly shaken and struggling for words during the news conference, Kaliňák said it was “time for some people to have a hard look into the mirror.” 

“There is no question that this was politically motivated. The inability to accept the choice of people, which some may not like … it leads to this,” he said. 

Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said “everyone needs to calm down.” 

“Those who are endorsing this attack as well as those who are calling for some sort of a revenge. And I am asking you, the media too, please, use your power, your influence. Because until now, it was some of you who sow the hate,” he said.

2:58 p.m. ET, May 15, 2024

Fico's assassination attempt was politically motivated, interior minister says

From CNN’s Ivana Kottasova

Slovak Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok speaks during a press conference at a hospital in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, on Wednesday.
Slovak Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok speaks during a press conference at a hospital in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia, on Wednesday. Bernadett Szabo/Reuters

The assassination attempt of Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico was politically motivated, the country's interior minister said, adding the information is based on “initial interviews with the suspect.”

“This assassination attempt was politically motivated and the suspect made the decision to do it shortly after the presidential election,” Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok told a news conference outside the hospital in Banská Bystrica, where the prime minister is being treated.

“It is clear this was politically motivated,” Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák said, speaking alongside Eštok.

Kaliňák said Fico "suffered multiple injuries," but did not provide any details when reporters asked if the prime minister was shot in the stomach.

This post has been updated with additional comments from the defense minister.

2:24 p.m. ET, May 15, 2024

Prime Minister Fico was shot five times, interior minister says

From CNN’s Ivana Kottasova in London

Prime Minister Robert Fico was shot five times, Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said.

“The perpetrator shot five times. The prime minister is in a critical condition, still on the operating table. We will do everything we can to investigate this,” Eštok said at a news conference.

The perpetrator has been arrested, he added.

2:39 p.m. ET, May 15, 2024

Slovakia's prime minister "still fighting for his life," defense minister says

From CNN’s Ivana Kottasova in London

Rescue workers wheel Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico from a helicopter to a hospital in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, on Wednesday.
Rescue workers wheel Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico from a helicopter to a hospital in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia, on Wednesday. Jan Kroslak/TASR via AP

Prime Minister Robert Fico is “still fighting for his life,” Robert Kaliňák, Slovakia's minister of defense, said in a press conference in the hospital where Fico is being treated.

“The surgery has been going on for three-and-a-half hours. His medical state is really very complex,” he added.

“We are singularly focused on the health of Robert Fico. And we are hoping he will be strong enough to pull through,” Kaliňák said.

1:42 p.m. ET, May 15, 2024

Slovakia’s interior minister says country is experiencing the "worst day of its democracy” following attack

From CNN's Sugam Pokharel

Slovakia’s Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok said the country is “experiencing the worst day of its democracy” following an assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico.

“For the first time in the 31 years of our democratic sovereign republic, someone has decided to express a political opinion not in an election but with a gun on the street,” he wrote on his Facebook page.

“It is a terrible disappointment for me personally, how our joint effort to belong to the civilized world of the most advanced countries went in vain,” the minister added.

He also said that he would do everything to ensure that “the assassination attempt, not only on the prime minister, but also on the entire democratic establishment, is investigated in detail as quickly as possible.”

The minister went on to call the attack a “huge warning to the whole of society,” adding that “if we do not stop now, we will destroy everything that binds us together as a nation.”

1:12 p.m. ET, May 15, 2024

Russian ambassador to Slovakia says he was shocked to hear about assassination attempt

From CNN's Sugam Pokharel and Ivana Kottasova

The Russian ambassador to Slovakia condemned the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Robert Fico and said he "was shocked" to hear about the incident.

“I condemn this act of violence and I express my conviction for the necessity of punishment for perpetrators,” Igor Bratčikov said in a letter to the prime minister.

The letter was published on the embassy’s official Facebook page.

Fico is known to be a Kremlin sympathizer. He had previously blamed “Ukrainian Nazis and fascists” for provoking Vladimir Putin into launching the invasion, repeating the false narrative Russia’s president has used to justify his invasion.

12:52 p.m. ET, May 15, 2024

Biden condemns Slovak prime minister assassination attempt

From CNN's Betsy Klein

President Biden speaks at the US Capitol in Washington, on May 15.
President Biden speaks at the US Capitol in Washington, on May 15. Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

US President Joe Biden expressed alarm at the attempted assassination of Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico on Wednesday, calling it a “horrific act of violence.” 

“I am alarmed to hear reports of an attack on Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico,” Biden said in a statement. "Jill and I are praying for a swift recovery, and our thoughts are with his family and the people of Slovakia. We condemn this horrific act of violence. Our embassy is in close touch with the government of Slovakia and ready to assist."

Fico was shot multiple times after a government meeting in Handlova, Slovakia.