Democracy Digest: Polish Man Charged With Plotting to Kill PM, Suspected Saboteurs Arrested

Two Turkish nationals suspected of setting fire to a Starlink satellite communications station in Poland on behalf of Russian intelligence have been arrested in Germany, Polish authorities announced on Monday. The attack took place on September 23 in Wola Krobowska, some 40 kilometres south of Warsaw, damaging the electrical infrastructure and backup generator of the station, which provides satellite internet connectivity across the region – including in Ukraine, where Starlink has become indispensable to military communications. “We have absolutely no doubt that Russian intelligence services were behind this act of sabotage,” the minister who oversees the intelligence services, Tomasz Siemoniak, said on Monday, adding that Russian intelligence agencies are “increasingly turning to people with ties to the criminal underworld”. Prosecutors are investigating alleged sabotage on behalf of foreign intelligence, an offence punishable by at least ten years in prison. The case follows a string of suspected Russian sabotage operations in Poland, including the destruction of Warsaw’s largest shopping centre in 2024 and this year’s attack on a drone factory supplying Ukraine.

Fico’s Moscow meeting plans leaked; Slovakia asks US for more time to stop Russia oil imports

Slovakia’s plans to revive cooperation with Russia returned to the headlines on Thursday when Politico published a Russian government document detailing the agenda of a planned intergovernmental meeting in Moscow. The commission itself is nothing new. Its revival was agreed by Slovak PM Robert Fico and Russian President Vladimir Putin last year, while Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar discussed preparations with Moscow in August. Fico confirmed on Wednesday that the meeting would take place on November 25. According to Politico, the talks are expected to cover Russian oil and gas supplies, nuclear fuel, agriculture, tourism and cultural cooperation, as well as restrictions on Russian athletes competing internationally. Slovakia is also restoring military contacts with Moscow. Slovak news outlet Aktuality.sk reported that two Slovak officers had already been sent to Russia, while a Russian military attache was heading to Bratislava. Fico is pursuing closer contacts with Moscow after losing his closest ally in the EU, former Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, who was defeated in April’s election. Ahead of the EU summit on Thursday and Friday, Fico said Slovakia would not participate in another proposed EU loan for Ukraine, although it would not block other countries from doing so. Meanwhile, the Slovak government is preparing for talks with Ukraine in Lviv on November 5. Fico has visited Moscow several times since returning to power in 2023, but has not visited Kyiv.

Slovakia has asked the US for more time to stop buying Russian oil, concerned that possible American tariffs could hurt its car exports, according to Dennik N. Economy Minister Denisa Sakova travelled to the US last week with representatives of oil refiner Slovnaft and gas supplier SPP to discuss alternative energy supplies and the possible impact of US sanctions. Washington recently approved legislation allowing tariffs of up to 100 per cent on major buyers of Russian oil and gas. The measures are mainly aimed at China and India, but Slovakia is concerned it could also be affected, given the importance of the American market for its car industry. Sakova said US officials understood why Slovakia needed until at least the end of 2027 to stop importing Russian crude. She also discussed possible oil purchases from the US, saying the prices offered were interesting for Slovakia. Slovnaft still processes Russian oil delivered through Ukraine via the Druzhba pipeline. The refinery has previously operated at almost full capacity without Russian crude, but Sakova said the alternative Adria pipeline from Croatia had not yet been tested for the volumes needed by Slovakia and Hungary. The talks also covered natural gas. SPP still buys most of its gas from Russia but must end these imports by October 2027 under EU rules. It is now looking for a five-to-seven-year contract for around 1 billion cubic metres a year, with Algeria, Azerbaijan and the US among the possible suppliers.

Hungary amends anti-LGBT law; language law issue solved with Ukraine

Hungary’s parliament this week passed new child protection legislation that removes the previous discriminatory provisions targeting sexual minorities. The new law imposes stricter obligations on media outlets and political parties to protect minors’ rights. Media outlets must label content that may be harmful to under-18s, while political parties are no longer allowed to use billboards that incite fear or hatred in their political campaigns. Tighter restrictions on billboards – a campaign tool favoured by Fidesz during its 16 years in power – have long been a demand of the now-governing Tisza party, particularly following the most recent election campaign, when Fidesz accused Tisza – falsely – of planning to involve Hungary in the war in Ukraine and send young Hungarians to the battlefield. The new legislation removed the anti-LGBTQ+ provisions introduced by Fidesz in 2021, which the Court of Justice of the European Union also found incompatible with EU values. The previous wording explicitly prohibited the display and promotion of homosexual content to under-18s, a provision that led to controversial measures such as requiring certain children’s books to be wrapped in plastic. The revised legislation, instead, prohibits the promotion of all explicit sexual content, including pornography, sexual exploitation, abuse or age-inappropriate materials. However, it stops short of suspending the controversial government decree requiring books to be wrapped. “This is surely not one of the main concerns of Hungarian society,” PM Peter Magyar said in an interview with the YouTube channel Partizan when asked whether the wrapping would be upheld. Opposition parties, meanwhile, have accused Tisza of bowing to pressure from Brussels and exposing Hungarian children to what they describe as the “gender lobby”.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Anita Orban and PM Magyar both welcomed the Ukrainian parliament’s adoption on Monday of a law expanding language rights for Hungarians and other national minorities in Ukraine. The law brings significant improvement for ethnic minorities whose language is an EU language, but does not apply to Russians. The legislation introduces a new category, the status of a “national minority general secondary education institution”, which applies to schools where more than half of the students are taught in a minority language. These institutions will enjoy greater autonomy in shaping their curricula. While Ukrainian literature and history will be taught in Ukrainian, most other subjects may be taught in minority languages. Students will also be allowed to take university entrance examinations in their mother tongue, and official documents and certificates will be issued in minority languages. Ukraine restricted the use of minority languages in education in 2017, sparking hostilities with Hungary over the rights of ethnic minorities. Former Hungarian PM Viktor Orban used the contested language law as grounds for blocking EU aid to Ukraine and vetoing the start of its EU membership talks. The Tisza government promised to mend ties with Ukraine, but also demanded radical improvement in language rights. After the law was adopted, the government swiftly lifted its veto to allow the opening of two more EU “clusters” (negotiating chapters) with Ukraine. “After years of inaction and frozen reactions, we have managed to ensure that the Transcarpathian Hungarian minority regained its rights,” Magyar told a press conference. The law was subsequently signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which could pave the way for a bilateral meeting between the two leaders in the autumn. The two politicians will meet on Friday in Brussels on the sidelines of the EU summit, but a meeting in Beregszasz (Berehove) is also expected later this year.

Czech Army chief warns of possible Russian attack; PM still has conflicts of interest

The chief of the general staff of the Czech Army, Miroslav Hlavac, this week warned that Russia could test the cohesion of NATO by launching a partial attack against one of its members. “I want to emphasise that we are ready and we will defend the Czech Republic with what we have,” he said in an interview with the Czech News Agency. “And I say this with all the force and responsibility for the army of the Czech Republic, also warning that the country’s response to a potential foreign attack did not only rely on Czechia’s military capabilities but also on the response from the entire state apparatus, defence industry and society. “State preparedness is a never-ending process. You will never be 100 per cent prepared. It is important that the state, and any state, not just the Czech Republic, has its security system prepared in such a way that it is able to respond to the threat and subsequently mitigate and address the consequences of the crisis,” Hlavac insisted.

“Based on the assessment of the information provided by the Czech national authorities, the Commission has concluded that [Czech Prime Minister Andrej] Babis’s situation constitutes a conflict of interest,” Elizabeth Werner, head of the European Commission’s directorate general for agriculture and rural development, was quoted as saying this week by Transparency International Czechia as part of DG Agri’s response to the Czech NGO’s previous complaint. Czech and foreign anti-corruption watchdogs have for months warned that the Czech PM’s steps to distance himself from his business interests – particularly the transfer of his shares of Agrofert into a trust fund back in February – in reality did nothing to mitigate the risks and ultimately did not resolve his conflicts of interest. Babis, meanwhile, insists the EU Commission’s evaluation is “nonsense”. Talking about his former agro-chemical empire, Babis insisted: “I did much more than I had to do. If I had followed the rules for conflicts of interest with European commissioners, I would have just reported the conflict and walked out the door… I will never get [Agrofert] back and I don’t receive any profit from it.”

It was an intense week of closed-door talks as parties from across the political spectrum launched negotiations following last weekend’s municipal elections. Less than a week after the ballot, the future leadership and coalition formats appear clearer in about half of Czechia’s 13 regional cities. Having emerged first in six of the country’s larger cities, Babis’s ruling ANO party has so far been able to reach an agreement with other partners in two of them – Karlovy Vary and Pilsen. On the contrary, ANO is likely to end up in the opposition in Czechia’s two largest cities, Brno where several parties have already entered coalition talks, as well as in the capital Prague where the centre-right and victorious STAN movement promised “to present the framework of cooperation” for the future municipal leadership by next week. Post-election talks remain largely open in the cities of Ostrava, Pardubice, Jihlava, Zlin and Ceske Budejovice.