Robert Fico, Prime Minister of Slovakia, has claimed that he considers it necessary to lift EU sanctions against businessman and biker Jozef Hambálek, who was added to the sanctions list due to his ties to the Night Wolves, a pro-Putin Russian motorcycle gang.
Source: European Pravda with reference to Denník N
Details: Fico accused former Slovak Foreign Affairs Minister Ivan Korčok of providing his colleagues with “false information” about Hambálek.
Quote: “There was such a ‘rush’ that everything connected with Russia had to be added to the sanctions list. That’s how Hambálek was also added… He loves motorcycles, and this is the only thing he can be accused of, nothing more.”
Fico added that he had approached Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, regarding this issue.
Hambálek has been in touch with politicians from Fico’s Smer party, specifically with Defence Minister Robert Kaliňák who also worked in Fico’s previous government and is a person of interest in a number of investigations.
Hambálek is first on the left at a Night Wolves’ meeting with Putin.
Photo: Denník N with reference to Dezinformácie Hoaxy Propaganda, a Slovak site dedicated to exposing disinformation regarding propaganda
Background:
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In 2022 Alexander Zaldostanov, leader of the Night Wolves motorcycle club, was added to the EU sanctions list. Back then, Hambálek, who met with Putin due to his ties with the organisation, was also sanctioned.
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Recently in Moscow, the Night Wolves opened a monument to former Serbian President Slobodan Milošević, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his participation in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in the 1990s.
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