Slovak prime minister undergoes second surgery since shooting

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico underwent the second operation on Friday, two days after he was shot multiple times. It is uncertain whether or not his condition will improve, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Robert Kaliňák said at a press conference on Friday. Officials will soon know whether Fico will recover, he added. Meanwhile, the government continued to function without being frozen or stopped in any way, he said.

What about the shooter? Do we know anything about him? The shooter is a 71-year-old man referred to as Juraj C. by local media. The case against the shooter is in a non-public preliminary stage, according to another report. As such, details about the shooter are limited. Slovakia’s Minister of the Interior has insisted that the attack was politically motivated, according to yet another report.

What sort of political motivations would the assassin have? After resuming office late last year, Fico had taken a strong pro-Russia and anti-American stance regarding the war in Ukraine. That stance proved polarizing in the most recent election, contributing to intense political rhetoric within Slovakia. Fico was in his third stint as prime minister, having served from 2006-2010 and 2012-2018.

What has the United States had to say? Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Thursday expressed to Kaliňák his sympathies about the incident and condemned the attack.

Dig deeper: Read Travis Kircher’s report in The Sift about the assassination attempt.