# Assassination Attempt in Slovakia: Is this Putin?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-attempt-in-slovakia-is-this-putin/1001596
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [May 15, 2024, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-attempt-in-slovakia-is-this-putin/1001596 "2024-05-15T17:55:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2024, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-attempt-in-slovakia-is-this-putin/1001596/21 "2024-05-16T15:53:07Z")
> [@Dropo](#):
>
> I don’t know anything about Slovakia and had never even heard of this Fico dude before this thread appeared.
No joke, if anyone had asked me about Fico before, I would have said my credit is actually pretty good.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2024, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-attempt-in-slovakia-is-this-putin/1001596/22 "2024-05-16T16:22:51Z")
Not that you’re wrong, but I feel like maybe the West should publicize some of their triumphs a little, if only to build a bit of legend and fear (a-la the Mossad). Right now, it seems like maybe the West in general have a sort of moral/ethical reluctance to engage in the more shady aspects of spycraft/intelligence gathering, and that only the Russians and Israelis don’t shy from it.
I doubt that’s actually true; I suspect that the Western agencies are supremely competent, but they’re probably more subtle and much more invisible than relatively ham-handed stuff like gunning down a sitting Prime Minister and getting caught. They’d have made this look like a heart attack or car wreck, or something mundane like that, and nobody would have been the wiser.
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [May 16, 2024, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-attempt-in-slovakia-is-this-putin/1001596/23 "2024-05-16T16:44:13Z")
No disagreement, but I would gather said same agencies under our adversaries’ watch know the score, and when there is a win or a loss. It’s _those_ eyes and ears that need to know how capable _our_ said agencies are. Having Joe Biden spike the ball every time we thwart some terrorist plot would probably be counter-productive (except in extraordinary situations like the neutralization of Bin Laden with Obama). But, we are starting to drift from the OP, so I will leave it there.
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### Author:  [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2024, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/assassination-attempt-in-slovakia-is-this-putin/1001596/24 "2024-05-30T16:46:16Z")
Saw a follow up on this in my Vietnamese news source:
> **[Suspect in Slovak PM shooting acted over Ukraine policy: court - VnExpress...](https://e.vnexpress.net/news/world/suspect-in-slovak-pm-shooting-acted-over-ukraine-policy-court-4750101.html)**
>
> The man charged with shooting and seriously wounding Slovakia's prime minister said he did so to oppose the government's Ukraine policy but regrets his actions, according to a court document obtained by AFP on Thursday.
Looks like it was principally related to Fico’s stance on Ukraine, but no indication as yet that it was anything other than a personal, independent action.
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