The deputy defense minister of Bratislava has recently claimed that the previous Slovakian government had no legal basis to donate Soviet-era MiG-29 warplanes to Ukraine. In March 2023, the interim government led by Prime Minister Eduard Heger authorized the delivery of 13 MiG-29s, as reported by the national broadcaster TASR. However, the current government, headed by Robert Fico, has initiated a legal review of this shipment.
Igor Melicher, Bratislava’s deputy defense minister, stated on Facebook that “the MiG-29 fighter jets were delivered to Ukraine illegally,” and that the Ministry of Defense is preparing legal action. Melicher’s statement comes after ombudsman Robert Dobrovodsky, who was tasked with reviewing the delivery of the aircraft, revealed that the government could not locate a legal analysis on the aid to Kiev.
Dobrovodsky told TASR on Tuesday that “the ministry recently told me that it was trying to comply with the request and find the analysis. However, it said that neither it nor any of its branches had the analysis at their disposal” and that “the analysis isn’t even registered in its databases in any form.
Melicher argued that Heger’s caretaker government had no right to make final decisions on delivering the planes abroad, stating that “The Constitution forbids an interim government to take major steps in foreign policy, and sending fighter jets worth more than €500 million ($537 million) is certainly such a step.
Prime Minister Robert Fico, who survived an assassination attempt by a pro-Ukrainian activist last month, has opposed sending arms to Kiev and insisted that the conflict should be resolved through diplomacy. Defense Minister Robert Kalinak also criticized his predecessor, saying in May that the previous government had acted “in the most irresponsible way when it handed over [the weapons] that we needed for our own safety.
Kiev has been urging its Western allies to speed up the planned delivery of US-made F-16 fighters. Politico magazine reported this month that Ukrainian officials were “frustrated” with how existing training programs in the US and other countries had not produced enough pilots for the F-16s.
Russia has consistently warned against Western military aid to Ukraine, saying such supplies merely prolong the conflict without changing its outcome, and increase the risk of a dangerous escalation.