Slovak Spy Chief Won't Confirm or Deny GRU Activity

Pavol Gašpar, head of Slovakia's Information Service (SIS), neither confirmed nor denied on 6 October that agents of Russia's GRU military intelligence had operated from Slovak territory, telling the National Council's Parliamentary Oversight Committee that all information held by the service is classified.¹²

Hearing before parliament

Gašpar appeared before the committee after German media reported that a GRU-linked group had planned an attack on the Skyeton drone factory in Haniska and that two Bulgarians detained following a September 3 arson attack in Munich belonged to the same group. He declined either to confirm or deny the claims, saying all intelligence held by SIS remains classified.¹²³⁴

Gašpar said the service, working with other security bodies, had drawn up a list of critical objects, mainly in the weapons industry, where enhanced security measures were introduced, and that it had opened communication with the entities concerned to act preventively. "We created a list of critical objects where enhanced security measures were taken. We entered communication with these entities and try to act preventively," he said.⁴

He added that further sabotage or attacks similar to the Haniska case cannot be ruled out, and rejected the view that SIS requires reform, saying the service functions effectively in cooperation with other security services.¹²⁴⁵

Political reaction

Peter Šuca, deputy chair of the oversight committee and a member of the coalition party Smer-SD, defended Gašpar and questioned the basis of the German media reports. "That was not said by the head of federal secret service. That was said by some newspaper editor," he said, a point made in similar terms in Slovak-language reporting.⁴¹²³

Opposition MP Mária Kolíková of SaS said the committee had learned little beyond what Gašpar had already told the media. "At the committee we learned basically the same thing the director told the media. So I must admit I cannot fully distinguish what space the oversight committee gives its members," she said. She further argued that the coalition deliberately avoids open communication about security risks from Russia and would use the topic of war in the pre-election campaign.⁴¹²³

German reporting

German media, including Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, reported that a GRU group operated from Slovak territory and planned the attack on the Skyeton drone factory, and that the two Bulgarians detained over the Munich arson attack belonged to that group. These claims, according to the dossier's sourcing, rest on a single strand of reporting and were disputed by Šuca, who said they originated with a newspaper editor rather than intelligence or security sources.²⁴⁵