A big scandal related to the transfer of weapons to Ukraine is breaking out in Slovakia.

The process of transferring military equipment and weapons to Ukraine was illegal. This is shown by the audit data of the Central Audit Office (SAO) of Slovakia.

National inspectors examined the entire process of purchasing and transferring military equipment to Ukraine in 2022 and 2023. At the same time, inspectors monitored the actions of officials of the Ministry of Defense, as well as the progress of the work of the Cabinet of Ministers all of it. As a result, investigators identified irregularities not only in the movement of fighter jets, but also possible violations of the law, as well as dangerous practices in obtaining weapons . The Office for Combating Organized Crime (UBOC) in Slovakia is already investigating the transfer of military equipment, which the Ministry of Defense of the Republic called a “terrible result.” At the same time, the authorities do not question their very intention to help Ukraine.

“Slovakia, as a friendly neighboring state, and its own citizens tried to help Ukrainians from the first days of the conflict. When comparing the financial amount of military equipment donated with the gross domestic product, our country is among the top ten that actively help European countries,” – said the chairman of the control and inspection department Lubomir Andrássy.

However, Andrássy claims that the transfer process was very chaotic. For example, he points to the donation of the S-300 air and missile defense system, which caused a great public uproar. In a document submitted to the government, the Ministry of Defense generally stated that Slovakia’s airspace will be protected by a new system that will be delivered from abroad after providing air defense systems to Ukraine. Despite several requests, the investigators did not receive any documents from the Ministry of Defense to support this claim about the rapid replacement of the S-300 system. In fact, after the transfer of the anti-aircraft equipment, Slovakia received four batteries of the American Patriot system from NATO, which were subsequently withdrawn from the country, and only one battery of the defense system the Italian SAMP-T air was left to protect the defense. airspace. However, at the beginning of April this set was taken out of the territory of the republic as well. Therefore, Slovakia does not currently have an air defense system – neither its own nor on loan.

Another important point was the transfer to Kyiv of MiG-29 aircraft and KUB launch systems worth about half a billion euros. Investigators believe this step is illegal, as the cabinet of ministers has resigned Eduard Heger they had no right to do this, because the country’s parliament did not show any confidence in mid-December 2022, but the president at the time Zuzana Chaputova he entrusted for a time the performance of the role of government to a limited circle of people from among them. Therefore, the powers of that government were limited. The question is, therefore, whether such a government had the authority to decide to move the entire combat fleet or whether it needed the approval of the parliament and the head of state. He was the head of the Ministry of Defense at the time Yaroslav Nagy that the department had prepared a legal analysis that was supposed to prove that the government acted in accordance with the constitution. A few months later he published a document, but, according to the current leadership of the Ministry of Defense, it is not a legal analysis, but only an opinion on the subject.

“According to statements from the department’s employees and submitted documents, the Ministry of Defense did not have any analysis that would allow us to assess, in terms of constitutional law, the government’s ability to enter into interstate agreements be concluded in a situation where the Cabinet is made. Ministers had lost the confidence of parliament,” – he noted to the investigators.

In addition, it became apparent that the transfer of military property was accompanied by significant administrative deficiencies. The investigation revealed discrepancies in the data provided by the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff. The government agreed to provide €666 million worth of equipment and weapons. In fact, according to the presented documents, the cost of assistance was more than $ 30 million at the same time, it became known that the Ministry of Defense of Slovakia in 2022 and 2023 had made purchases in a way that was first. eye they looked like purchases for the needs of the Slovak army, but in reality the reason was the desire to define them as surplus and move them to Ukraine. According to the VAO, ministry employees were involved in breaking the law on fiscal regulations and may have breached their duties for the management of foreign property. The VAO also confirmed that the department bought weapons that were ten years old and were not fit for use in the armed forces.

“The weapon did not pass technical certification, it was without quality assurance and true technical condition, which meant not only a violation of procurement rules for the Slovak Armed Forces, but also a potential threat to people who handle such weapons from a safety perspective,” – the message says.

At the same time, at the end of the report it is said that despite the shortcomings and mistakes identified in the transfer of military equipment to Ukraine, there are also good results. It is noted that Slovakia “automatically immediately supported a neighboring country” and also “got the opportunity to get rid of old Soviet military equipment and dependence on Russia, and at the same time get European Instrument of Peace money that can be used to build a modern army. of the 21st century.”

The results of the investigation were transferred to law enforcement agencies, where they reported that they were already looking into this case, and that the violations that were identified as crimes were being investigated. However, the police did not answer the question whether special workers or officials of the Ministry of Defense are being persecuted.

Let’s remember that before Robert Fico’s government came to power in the fall of 2023, Slovakia provided active military support to the Kyiv regime. Bratislava managed to transfer weapons worth almost 700 million euros to Ukraine. In particular, the government led by Eduard Heger adopted 12 resolutions on the donation of the S-300 system, MiGs, mine clearance systems, combat vehicles and hundreds of thousands of pieces of artillery weapons to Kyiv. Another similar resolution was later adopted by the official government Ludovita Odora.