Recently elected controversial governor of Banska Bystrica region, Marian Kotleba, known as a right-wing extremist, has written an open letter to Ukrainian President Viktor Janukovich to offer his support, calling on the president not to resign.
In the letter, Kotleba explais how he is against the official stance of the Slovak Republic and the European Union regarding the turbulent situation in Ukraine, which finds itself torn between moving towards the EU or staying in the clutch of Russia with violent protests now a daily occurrence since November last year after the president turned his back on the planned EU agreement.
Kotleba also refers to NATO as a terrorist organisation, while referring to Slovakia’s accession to the EU as when Slovakia lost its independence and statehood, and so he is advocating for Ukraine not to make the same mistake. “The European Union needs new markets and the terorisit organisation NATO is trying to get closer to the Russian border” he notes in his letter.
Kotleba goes on to downplay the European Union and how Slovakia’s accession has led to rising prices and unemployment, loss of political independence and so on, in a rant akin to what you might expect from someone with the philosophy Kotleba holds. In his rhetoric, he basically calls on Slavonic nations to stick together, even expressing his support for former Serbian president and war criminal Slobodan Milosovic.
Kotleba concludes his letter saying that the president should not give in to the demonstrations, which have seen four killed and hundreds injured in the past few weeks, He refers to the demonstrators as terrorist with whom it is not possible to negotiate.
I love the “stick people” picture in the banner…”no bending over and picking up coins off the street!” is what they are trying to say?
Governor Kotleba will further demonstrate his solidarity with the Ukrainian President by terminating and returning all EU funds poured into his Region, demand that companies that prefer trading in the EU close shop and move out to other regions – will he not? If not, the EU should note his comments and stop all funding forthwith.