Bratislava, 6 July 2024 (dpa/MIA) - Slovakian Prime Minster Robert Fico has made a public appearance for the first time since surviving an assassination attempt against him in May.

Attending festivities marking the feast day of the Slavic apostles Cyril and Methodius, Fico came out against "liberal ideology" and praised his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán who made a surprise visit to Moscow earlier on Friday amid strong criticism from top EU officials and European leaders.

Orbán met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin, holding two-and-a-half hours of talks.

Several EU officials stressed that the Hungarian leader had no official EU mandate for negotiations with Russia, and that it had nothing to do with Hungary assuming the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union.

During a joint appearance with Putin after the talks, Orbán once again called for efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Ukraine war.

Fico said that in order to prevent the war in Ukraine from escalating into a much larger military conflict, "there can never be enough peace initiatives."

The Slovakian leader said that if his health had allowed it, he would have liked to join on such a trip. Peace is not everything, Fico said, but "without peace, everything is nothing."

Fico, a left-wing populist, was seriously injured in an assassination attempt on May 15 when a government opponent fired several shots at him as he stepped outside to join waiting supporters following a government meeting in the town of Handlová.

The attacker was detained immediately afterwards and is currently in custody.

On Thursday, authorities classified the attempt to assassinate Fico as a terrorist act rather than attempted murder, meaning the attacker now faces a life sentence.

Photo: MIA archive