Illustrative photo – A unit of the Slovak army at a military parade organized to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia, which took place on October 28, 2018 in Prague, on Europa Avenue.
Bratislava – A record number of more than 40,000 Slovaks sent a notice to local authorities that they do not want to fight with weapons in the event of mobilization. This follows from today's statement by the Minister of Defense Jaroslav Nada in the discussion program of Rádio Expres. According to the minister, this is the result of abuse of the war in Ukraine by parts of the Slovak opposition.
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The so-called emergency service, for which men may be called up from among the citizens of a country of more than five million inhabitants in time of war or a state of war, may be refused by the people by a declaration to that effect every year in January. At the same time, they must state that extraordinary service, i.e. deployment with a weapon, is contrary to their conscience or religious belief. In the event of a war conflict, this group of men would perform other jobs in case of mobilization.
“If there is a situation that no one plans for, mobilization, the person is still mobilized, but he will not get a weapon in his hand, but will dig trenches or go to hospitals,” Naď said.
On emergency service men can be called up from among the civilian population during the duration of their military service, i.e. between the ages of 19 and 55.
According to the Aktuality.sk portal, less than 1,500 people refused emergency service in Slovakia last year, whereas previously only hundreds usually did so population per year. Naď justified this year's sharp increase in announcements by the statements of politicians from the opposition Social Democrats (Směr-SD) of ex-prime minister Robert Fitz, who reject anti-Russian sanctions and the supply of Western weapons to Ukraine, which has been facing a military invasion by Russia since last February.
For example, a member of the Směr- SD Ľuboš Blaha previously spoke about the fear that young Slovaks could be recruited to fight in Ukraine. Fico, in turn, argued that the country's top politicians could declare a state of war, which would mean canceling September's early elections. Smér-SD, which was in power from 2006 to 2010 and again from 2012 to 2020, is now the second most popular party.
