Ljubljana related

21 May 2022, 10:31 AM

STA, 20 May 2022 - The government adopted on Friday a bill on emergency measures to regulate the situation of displaced Ukrainians and to help Slovenian business cope with the consequences of the war in Ukraine with favourable loans.

The bill was adopted to enhance the implementation of the government's March regulation that activated, based on EU law, Slovenia's temporary protection of displaced persons act to help Ukrainians leaving their homes after Russia's 24 February invasion of Ukraine, the government said after its correspondence session.

The bill aims to intensify the mechanisms introduced by the March regulation in a bid to implement temporary protection for Ukrainian citizens in Slovenia.

It envisages changing certain regulations governing temporary protection to effectively and comprehensively address the situation of persons enjoying temporary protection.

Measures are also planned to disburden state institutions overwhelmed by displaced Ukrainians and speed up temporary protection procedures so that persons with the status can enjoy the assigned rights promptly.

Government data shows that until 12 April, 4,733 Ukrainian citizens filed applications for temporary protection. Unofficial figures from early May were meanwhile by around 1,000 higher.

The bill is thus designed to ease the burden on all related public services - social care, healthcare, public security etc, and eliminate some of the shortcomings that have proved to be a problem in practice.

To help Slovenian companies that have been affected by the Ukrainian crisis, a temporary measure of providing liquidity funds for companies in the form of favourable loans will be introduced.

The loans will be given out through the Slovenian Enterprise Fund, but the government did not say how much money will be available.

The government said that the companies are also faced with rising energy prices and interrupted supply chains, which requires rapid action to prevent the hard-to-repair consequences for the Slovenian economy and the state.

The bill, drafted by the Defence Ministry, was sent to the National Assembly to be fast tracked through parliament.

20 May 2022, 11:15 AM

STA, 19 May 2022 - Russia demanded on Thursday that Slovenia reduce the number of staff at its embassy in Moscow by four within ten days, a move that comes a month and a half after Slovenia demanded an 80% cut in the number of staff at the Russian Embassy in Ljubljana due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Slovenia said it was negatively surprised by the move.

Slovenia's charge d'affairs was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday and presented with a note, demanding that Slovenia reduce the Moscow embassy staff by four people, Russian press agency Tass reported today.

"In response to unfriendly steps, taken by Ljubljana earlier, on reduction of staff of the Russian diplomatic mission ... the Slovenian diplomat was presented with a note demanding to reduce the diplomatic staff of the Slovenian embassy in Moscow by four people within 10 days," Tass quoted the ministry as saying.

"Based on the principle of reciprocity, a decision was also made to correct the conditions of operation of the Slovenian diplomatic mission, considering the situation that our embassy in Ljubljana has found itself in," the ministry reportedly added.

The Slovenian Foreign Ministry responded to the development in a written response labelling it as "a negative surprise".

It announced it would study the Russian decision from all aspects and consult with the EU countries that are in a similar situation before adequately reacting in due course.

In early April, the Slovenian ministry reduced the number of staff at the Russian Embassy in Ljubljana from 41 to 8. Unlike some other EU countries, it did not expel the diplomats.

Instead, it invoked article 11 of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, which states that the receiving state may require that the size of a mission be kept within limits considered by it to be reasonable and normal.

10 May 2022, 10:25 AM

STA, 10 May 2022 - Prime Minister Janez Janša has said the West remains oblivious to the fact that Russia was never de-Communised, as he told Ukrainians in an address aired on Ukrainian national TV on Monday that Ukraine was the real heir of the victories of the Second World War.

Janša said only one evil, national socialism or Nazism, had been defeated in the Second Word War in 1945, whereas the other evil, international socialism or Communism, was not.

"Evil, just because it confronts another evil, does not yet become good," he said, noting that Communism had gone on to occupy Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic, killing millions of people at home and abroad.

Watch the video, in English, below

The West's victory in the Cold War did not eliminate this evil and whereas Nazi Germany was denazified, Communist Russia experienced merely the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

"There was no lustration in Russia, no de-Communisation, no justice, not enough interest in the West either. Evil has survived.

"Today the KGB network controls the Russian state, it has nuclear weapons and the future is unclear. There is another dominant Communist world nuclear power there and Cold War Two will not be the as the first. The blindness of the West is still great, but the fog is rising because of your courage and sacrifice," he said.

He said that in fighting for their country, the Ukrainians were also fighting for Europe. "Again, you are on the right side of history. Thus it is you, Ukrainians, who are the true rightful heirs of that honourable fight 77 years ago. In Moscow, they are the heirs of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact."

03 May 2022, 15:43 PM

STA, 3 May 2022 - President Borut Pahor argued in an interview for Der Spiegel in favour of continued arms supplies to Ukraine and warned of the unpredictability of Vladmir Putin, saying it could lead to a nuclear conflict. He warned against underestimating the Russian military and noted the risk of the conflict spreading to Moldova, Georgia and the Western Balkans.

The president told the German paper that he could unfortunately no longer rule out a nuclear conflict, having lost confidence in the Russian president's judgment. While a nuclear conflict would make no sense, Pahor argued Putin had also not been deterred by the senselessness of the war in Ukraine.

Pahor, whom Der Spiegel described as one of Europe's most experienced statesmen, also stressed that he disagreed with an immediate embargo on Russian energy products. "I am in favour of a gradual reduction of dependence on Russian energy products, even though such a step may seem cowardly to some", Pahor added.

He also touched on criticism from Eastern Europe, where Germany is being accused of dragging its feet when it comes to imposing sanctions on Russia.

Pahor pointed out that if an embargo on Russian fossil fuels were imposed, Germany would suffer substantial economic damage, which explains the concerns. Nevertheless, Germany has radically changed its policy towards Russia, which makes him very proud of Germany.

The president moreover noted that Putin's pursuit of a military victory did not bode well for a start of serious peace negotiations at present.

On the contrary, the war could escalate, as Russia is prepared to make heavy sacrifices to win. In Moldova in particular, there is a strong fear of the conflict spreading to its territory, and the war could, he said, indirectly affect Georgia and the Western Balkans as well.

Pahor gave the interview during a working visit to Berlin on 28 April, where he met his German counterpart Frank Walter Steinmeier. The pair discussed, among other things, Russia's aggression against Ukraine and exchanged views on the situation in the Western Balkans.

On Ukraine, the two presidents agreed on the need for an early end to the Russian attacks and for diplomacy to regain its role and push for a peaceful solution. They said that Ukraine should be assisted in every way, politically, militarily and morally.

03 May 2022, 12:27 PM

STA, 3 May 2022 - The police and the Information Commissioner have launched a probe after the personal information of a Polish citizen who took part in a recent protest in front of the Russian Embassy in Ljubljana was shared with an embassy employee by a police officer, Delo reports on Tuesday.

The Polish citizen, protesting at a security fence of the heavily guarded embassy, was asked by a police officer to step back and was identified.

Once the officer wrote down the information, he was approached by an embassy employee who had been recording the protest and demanded that the officer show what he had written down.

The officer complied and the embassy employee took a photo of his notes with a mobile phone, Delo says.

Concerned about his security, the Polish man contacted the Polish Embassy in Ljubljana, Polish Ambassador to Slovenia Krzysztof Olendzki told the paper.

As soon as he learnt about the incident, Olendzki filed a complaint against the police officer's conduct.

The police confirmed that an internal probe was under way, while the Information Commissioner initiated inspection proceedings on suspicion that the police officer mishandled personal information.

26 Apr 2022, 17:42 PM

STA, 26 April 2022 - Prime Minister Janez Janša alleged in a series of posts on Twitter on Tuesday that Robert Golob, who defeated him in Sunday's general election with his Freedom Movement, is pro-Russian, as he reacted to foreign media reports about the election.

"You really called those pro Russian guys "liberals"? Check your sources, please," Janša tweeted this afternoon, tagging a number of foreign media, including The New York Times, Reuters and Fox News.

He described the Freedom Party, which foreign media designated as centrist and liberal, as "pro-Russian," backing his claims with alleged pro-Russian positions of the party's backers that he said had an "anti-European, pro-Russian background".

This included a photo of Ljubljana Mayor Zoran Janković, who endorsed Golob, receiving a medal from Putin several years ago, and a statement by Freedom Movement vice-president Marta Kos in a 20 March interview that it was in Slovenia's interest to have normal relations with Russia.

The Twitter activity comes after Janša aired similar views on election day as he responded to a tweet by the European People's Party (EPP), which caused a stir when it said that it was "worried about the possible Russian interference in the Slovenian elections, which is clearly a consequence of Slovenia's firm & unequivocal support for Ukraine."

The EPP did not explain its position any further.

On Sunday Janša thanked the EPP as he noted that "powerful politicians, decorated by Putin's medals, try to push Slovenia back to the Russian sphere of influence."

He said there was "a strong pro-Russian network in Slovenia with exceptional media, financial and political power. This network sets up a new political party before each election. This time it is called the Freedom Movement".

Hours after polls closed on Sunday, Janša congratulated Golob on victory and said the SDS was always willing to work together with political players for the common good of Slovenia.

12 Apr 2022, 13:17 PM

STA, 11 April - The Kočevje municipality in southern Slovenia had been forging ties with the Bucha municipality near Kyiv before the war in Ukraine erupted in February. The two were preparing to become twin towns, a process to continue after the war. In the meantime Kočevje is trying to help Bucha, an area now notorious for reports of atrocities.

Kočevje made contact with Bucha local authorities in 2019 through U-Lead Bridges of Trust, a programme funded by donors from Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania and Slovenia that aims to strengthen ties between Ukrainian and EU municipalities, Kočevje Mayor Vladimir Prebilič told the STA.

The two municipalities signed a letter of intent as a precondition for town twinning, but the process was then suspended because of the war, he said, adding it would go on after the war ends.

Prebilič currently has no contact with Bucha Mayor Anatoly Fedoruk as the latter has been busy since the beginning of the war in efforts to protect his town, and he was also wounded. Prebilič is in contact with another senior Bucha official though and from time to time Kočevje learns of the current situation in the Ukrainian town.

Being eager to help out, the Slovenian town launched a donation campaign for its twin town to-be that raised some 50 tonnes of material aid.

Bucha, home to some 29,000 residents, is one of the smallest Ukrainian municipalities. It has recently become notorious as a site of documented atrocities against civilians committed by Russian troops. The battle for Bucha ended in late March with the withdrawal of Russian forces.

05 Apr 2022, 17:48 PM

STA, 5 April 2022 - The Foreign Ministry summoned Russian Ambassador Timur Eyvazov to express Slovenia's strongest protest against and shock at the killings of civilians in Bucha and other towns in Ukraine. The ambassador was also notified that Slovenia is reducing the number of staff at the Russian embassy in Ljubljana from 41 to eight, or by 80%.

The ministry said in a press release on Tuesday that it expressed to Eyvazov its "strongest protest and dismay at the massacres of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha and other towns, which satellite and other images have revealed after the towns were liberated from the occupation of the Russian aggressor forces".

Together with its partners and allies in collaboration with the International Criminal Court, Slovenia will do everything in its power for the perpetrators of these horrendous crimes to be brought to justice.

The Russian ambassador was told that in line with Article 11 of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, Slovenia is reducing the number of diplomats and administrative and technical staff at Russia's embassy in Slovenia.

The provision says that the receiving state, in this case Slovenia, may require that the size of a mission be kept within limits considered by it to be reasonable and normal, given the circumstances and conditions in the receiving state and the needs of the particular mission.

Slovenia decided to adjust the number of staff at the Russian embassy to the number of staff it has at its embassy in Moscow.

The ministry did not provide an exact number at first, but PM Janez Janša tweeted that the number would be reduced "drastically".

It later confirmed for the STA the information that the cut would involve 33 staff - from the current 41 diplomats and other staff to just eight.

With 41 staff, the Russian embassy is by far the largest diplomatic mission in Slovenia, with the ministry saying that the figure was much higher than for instance at the US or Chinese embassy.

The ministry explained the measure had been harmonised at EU level, noting that several EU countries had recently decided to cut the number of Russian diplomats, including Germany, France and Italy.

These countries have said they have opted for the move to secure national security as the expelled Russian diplomats have been said to work as spies, while the Slovenian ministry did not list any such reasons.

It stressed, however, that the decision had been made under Article 11 of the Vienna convention, not under Article 9, which says that the receiving state can declare one or more more staff of the sending state persona non grata.

The ministry said that it had also called in Slovenian Ambassador to Russia Branko Rakovec for consultations.

31 Mar 2022, 12:35 PM

Ljubljana, 31 March 2022 - Slovenia's charge d'affaires at the embassy in Kyiv Boštjan Lesjak, who arrived in Kyiv on Sunday, had to take down the Slovenian flag in front of the embassy because it looks too similar to Russia's flag.

"When we arrived in Kyiv it was quite windy and when we proudly hoisted back the Slovenian and European flag, they fluttered nicely in the wind," he told TV Slovenija late on Wednesday.

But when the wind stopped, the flags dropped and members of the national guard and later the police came and asked whether the Slovenian flag can be removed temporarily "because it is too much like the Russian flag," he said.

Lesjak said safety was well taken care of otherwise by the official representatives of the Ukrainian authorities. "We are accommodated in a nearby hotel, where we have the basic conditions to live and work," he said.

Lesjak regularly reports to Slovenian Ambassador Tomaž Mencin, who works out of the Polish city of Rzeszow close to the border with Ukraine.

His main contacts are the ambassadors of Poland and the Holy See, who never left Kyiv.

Slovenia reopened the embassy in Kyiv as a sign of support for Ukraine. Lesjak, a lieutenant colonel who previously worked at the Defence Ministry, volunteered for the job.

28 Mar 2022, 12:51 PM

STA, 28 March 2022 - Slovenia's interim chargé d'affaires Boštjan Lesjak arrived in Kyiv safely Sunday night, the Foreign Ministry said. The Slovenian Embassy in Kyiv reopened today.

According to the ministry, Lesjak said upon arrival that the town was deserted, and that alarms and detonations could be heard in the distance but other than that life was normal for those who stayed in the Ukrainian capital.

Slovenia's Ambassador to Ukraine Tomaž Mencin continues with his work from Rzeszow, a town on the Polish-Ukrainian border where most other ambassadors operate from, the ministry said.

The ministry told the STA today that Lesjak was accompanied by another official, but no more information was provided.

Prime Minister Janez Janša said in a tweet this morning that the Slovenian Embassy had reopened and that a Slovenian team was in Kyiv.

"We are back. The Slovenian and European flags flutter again in front of the Slovenian Embassy in Kyiv. When the team travelled to the Ukrainian capital yesterday, they saw many civilians returning to the city," he tweeted.

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