Home Europe Slovak Doctors Are Discussing Moving PM Fico to Bratislava, Say Local Reports

Slovak Doctors Are Discussing Moving PM Fico to Bratislava, Say Local Reports

Police officers stand next to police vehicles outside the F.D. Roosevelt University Hospital where Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was taken after a shooting incident in Handlova, in Banska Bystrica. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger

Slovak doctors want to transport Prime Minister Robert Fico from Banska Bystrica to the capital Bratislava.

Local media reported this news on Friday.

Fico was shot five times by an assassin on Wednesday. Slovak media says the shooter is a 71-year-old man. The motive is unclear.

President-Elect Peter Pellegrini said the prime minister was in a serious but stable condition and able to speak a little.

The hospital in Banska Bystrica did not respond to a request for comment.

The shooting was the first major assassination attempt on a European political leader after 20 years.

A sniper killed Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003. He was exiting his vehicle at the time.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that Fico would miss the crucial European Parliament elections early next month.

Orban said the European elections, along with the US elections, can determine the “course of war and peace in Europe.”

Slovakians elected Fico as the prime minister of the country last year. He has pro-Kremlin leanings.

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Fico’s calls for ending sanctions on Russia and halting arms supplies to Ukraine have endeared him to Moscow.

President Putin and other Russian politicians have been prominent among those condemning Wednesday’s assassination attempt.

He said he would not back further aid to Ukraine nor support sanctions at the EU summit last year.

The EU and its member countries have provided billions of euros in assistance to Ukraine.

(REUTERS)