Russians could have sabotaged MiG-29s that Slovakia decided to transfer to Ukraine - Defense Minister Nad’

This was stated by Slovak Defense Minister Jaroslav Nad’, according to Euractiv.

It is noted that the Slovak government recently decided to transfer Soviet MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine, which were in service in the country, but which the Slovak army has not used since August 2022.

"They were able to fly, but that doesn’t mean they were also capable of combat. The Ukrainians came to Slovakia a week before their departure, brought spare parts and inspected the planes," Nad’ explained after the opposition Smer-SD party, strongly criticised the government for giving up fighters.

In addition, Nad’ also said that in the past, the planes had been found to have malfunctions, which the minister suggested may have been intentionally caused by Russian technicians. Until last year, the Russians were present at the Sliač air base in Slovakia, and it was then, according to the country's Defense Ministry, that they could have caused damage to the aircraft.

"Even the police were investigating it, based on our suspicions. There were parts in the engines of the aircraft that Slovak technicians accessed, and then there were parts that Russian technicians only accessed. The defects appeared only in those parts accessed by Russians," Nad’ said.

The newspaper notes that although the investigation did not prove intentional sabotage of the aircraft, the Slovak Ministry of Defense "felt a loss of confidence in the Russian technicians at Sliač because mistakes kept appearing in places only they could get to."

Lieutenant General Ľubomír Svoboda, the former highest-ranking pilot, also suggested that Russians intentionally damaged the aircraft.

"We took over an engine from them that was supposed to last 350 hours. And in the end, it only flew 70 hours. What can we make of that? Maybe there was poor workmanship, let’s call it that. I don’t know," he said in an interview with Denník N.

The Russian Embassy in Slovakia said that Slovakia's supply of fighter jets to Ukraine had led to "an unpredictable and dangerous escalation of the conflict, for which the initiators of the decisions will be held responsible."

• On March 17, the Slovak government approved the transfer of 13 MiG-29 fighters to Ukraine.

• On March 23, it became known that the first 4 MiG-29 fighters out of the promised 13 had already left the territory of the Slovak Republic and were heading to Ukraine.