Plenty of unfounded claims were shared that the suspect in the assassination of the Slovak Prime minister was married to a Ukrainian woman, who convinced her spouse to execute the act. In addition, she supposedly participated in the Euromaidan Protests in Ukraine in 2014, which are described as a “coup d’etat” with no basis whatsoever. Some of the media are also saying that the woman was arrested for being involved in the assassination, although the Police only took her in for questioning, writes Truthmeter.
Under the content-sharing agreement between Truthmeter.mk and Meta.mk, we republish the text in full below:
The same unsubstantiated claim appears in many articles shared on the social network Facebook: here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo), here (photo) and here (photo). Almost all of these articles start with the following:
The wife of the assassin of the Slovak Prime minister Robert Fico is Ukrainian who participated in the coup d’etat ten years ago.
Most of the listed media posted this news on Facebook twice, on the 16th and the 17th of May 2024, contributing to greater dissemination of this unsubstantiated fact. In actuality, more than twice, because these media seem to have opened more Facebook accounts with different names (compare, for example, Nedelnik Republika (Weekly Republic) and Prva Republika (First Republic) or Infomaks and Info 24). The news was published on the following sites: Vecer.mk, Vesti.mk, Vreme.mk, Vesnik.com, and Pressing.tv, with somewhat different words.
Some of the listed media express themselves more carefully using phrases such as: “Unofficially, it is claimed that…” or headlines put in interrogative form like: “Is the wife of the assassin a Ukrainian?” What all these media have in common, however, is that they spread the unsubstantiated claim not mentioning any source, justifying it with the excuse that “Slovak media were saying that”. But what media?
All that is based on disinformation circulates in Slovakia but originated from the Kremlin. Previously, some claimed that the assassin of the Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico was Ukrainian, but once it became clear that the suspect was a Slovak named Juraj Cintula, the false claim shifted to his wife who was, allegedly, Ukrainian and who influenced him to execute the assassination because Fico was pro-Russian. On top of that, the spouse, supposedly, came to Slovakia as a refugee from Ukraine, but that was denied by the Chief of the Slovak Police Lubomir Solak, which was also published on the Facebook page of the Slovak MIA in the fight against fake news. The denial was also broadcast on RTV Slovakia, adding that Cintula’s spouse did not influence him to execute such an act.
It should be noted that a Ukrainian citizen can move to Slovakia not only as a refugee but also on the grounds of marriage or employment. However, that is not the case with Cintula’s spouse. Little is known about the wife of Cintula apart from the fact that her name is Elena, that she was a high school teacher, and that she is retired. Her husband is 71 years old.
The articles fact-checked here claim without substance and logic that this elderly woman was “actively participating” in the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine in 2014 described incorrectly as a “coup d’etat”. Those protests were against the willful behavior of Ukraine’s pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, who was eventually dismissed, not with a coup d’etat but with a procedure (not an ideal one, but still a procedure), that led to the elections on the 22nd of February 2014 where elected Members of Parliament from the 2012 elections cast a legitimate vote, including 36 of his party-members.
That was not a coup d’etat and there is no evidence that Elena took part in that, nor that she is from Ukraine or even an ethnic Ukrainian. That is merely disinformation coming from Russian media such as EurAsia Daily, Sputnik, Царьград, Аргументы и факты, Московский комсомолец etc.
Some of them claim that Elena was arrested for being involved in the assassination. In fact, she was taken from home for questioning, accompanied by the Police for her protection from possible vengeance for the act of her spouse. Russian media even claimed that she was caught at the airport in an attempt to flee to Warsaw, however, there is no evidence to support this claim. Furthermore, given the coordinated nature of police forces within the EU, fleeing from one member state to another would be an ineffective strategy.
This Kremlin disinformation is maybe a counter-response to the claims made by some pro-Western sources about Cintula being a member of the pro-Russian movement Slovenci Branci. The Slovak MIA denied that claim but confirmed that he previously participated in their meetings, having probably changed his views later. Reluctant to be linked to the assassin, Russia is now claiming that Cintula was pro-Ukrainian, and a clip was released where a person – claimed to be Cintula – is expressing his support for Ukraine, along with the claim that he was a member of the pro-European and liberal party Progressive Slovakia. The leader of the party, however, denied that. A photograph also surfaced showing, supposedly, Cintula with the father of the party leader, but it was discovered that the person was someone else. And, of course, the claim that the spouse of Cintula was Ukrainian was also spread. To summarize, many unsubstantiated claims were circulated, and they were aggressively spreading in our country as well.
Cintula’s trial will bring to light new facts, but based on the ones that are known to us now (as of the 21st of May 2024), the fact-checked articles are assessed as untrue.
