Slovak PM slams student wearing ribbon in Ukrainian colours who refused to shake hands with president
Pravda Ukraine
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico has commented on a recent incident when Slovak student Simon Omaník, wearing a ribbon in the colours of the Ukrainian flag on his jacket, refused to shake hands with President Peter Pellegrini.
Source: European Pravda with reference to Fico’s post on Facebook
Details: In his post, Fico wrote that he “will not be disingenuous” and would say what he would do if he were president of the country and his minister of education organised such an event and one of the top students would not shake hands with him as one of the three top officials of the state.
Quote: “Firstly, I would ask him if his room was a nursery. Secondly, what his parents taught him. Third, I would take away his award and send him where he belongs, in front of all the media. And finally, I would thank the minister of education for his cooperation,” he said.
Fico said Pellegrini was wrong when he said he respected the student.
Quote: “There is nothing to respect here,” he said.
The prime minister was outraged that “anti-Slovak and anti-government media applaud the pupil” and say that “his refusal to shake an extended hand is an example of a lack of discipline”.
“Soros’ media is dismantling the state on air. Anyone, regardless of whether they have achieved anything, is good if they humiliate the state and its leaders. This is what awaits us in the next election,” Fico said. [Fico is referring to Hungarian-American financier and philanthropist George Soros, whom the Slovak leadership views unfavourably because of his promotion of democratic reforms and open societies, which some perceive as challenges to their authority – ed.]
Simon Omaník received the bronze medal award at the Central European Mathematical Olympiad from the Minister of Education Tomas Drucker.
Background:
- When the minister invited Omaník to shake hands with President Pellegrini, who was standing next to him, he refused, even though the president had already extended his hand to shake. Omaník was wearing a ribbon in the colours of the Ukrainian flag on his jacket.
- Omaník explained his refusal by saying that Pellegrini’s victory in the spring 2024 elections over pro-Ukrainian candidate Ivan Korčok, whom he had painted as a “war candidate” during the campaign, “was a lie and an attempt to manipulate the lowest human instincts of fear and perhaps even anti-Ukrainian sentiment in some parts of the Slovak population.”
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