Robert Fico’s country turns fractures in Europe’s order into leverage, acting as a glitch-state channel between Brussels and Moscow At 6:00 PM on May 8, 2026, the plane carrying Robert Fico, the Slovak Prime Minister and leader of the Direction – Social Democracy party (SMER-SD), landed in Moscow. This fact was covered in great detail by both Russian and European media, and for good reason. A week earlier, Lithuania and Poland had officially stated that they would not allow Fico’s plane to pass