Slovakia holds flash demonstration of power on Hungarian border
Commenting on the operation, which was initially announced without a deadline and ultimately cut short, the minister said:
It has been made clear to illegal migrants that the Slovak migration policy has changed. The police are ready to deploy a significant police force to control the green border at any time.
The recent police operation along the entire stretch of the Hungarian green border involved hundreds of police and soldiers equipped with special technical equipment, including drones and night vision devices. According to the Interior Ministry, no illegal immigrants were apprehended during the overnight operation, but two groups of people planning to cross the border illegally were deterred.
According to the Ministry of Interior, the number of illegal immigrants entering the country has increased significantly this year. While last year 5,000 illegal immigrants entered the country, this year the number has already exceeded 46,000.
Robert Fico was appointed Slovakia's prime minister last Wednesday (25 October) for the fourth time, after pledging in his election campaign to end military support for Ukraine and criticising sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported.
President Zuzana Caputova appointed Fico and his cabinet after his SMER-SSD party won the 30 September election and formed a coalition with the centre-left HLAS and nationalist SNS parties.
Fico quit as prime minister in 2018 amid mass public protests against corruption after the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kusnirova.
Cover photo: A police vehicle on patrol at the Čunovo-Rajka motorway crossing in Slovakia on the evening of 30 October 2023. Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has announced that Slovakia will deploy a large police force in a show of force for illegal immigrants to control the Slovak-Hungarian green border. MTI/AP/TASR/Jaroslav Novák
