On Wednesday 9 February, President Čaputová ratified the Defence Cooperation Agreement which was approved by the National Council of the Slovak Republic and negotiated by former and current governments.  

The president emphasized that she tried to do her utmost to achieve understanding for and acceptance of this agreement.  

"The interpretive statement which I added to the negotiated text of the agreement is part of the ratification instrument and thus a binding interpretation of the agreement for future generations of politicians.  This statement along with the statement of the other contractual party confirm that Slovakia and the United States interpret the agreed text of the agreement in accord and that there are no rational grounds to suspect each others’ intentions.  The agreement, in keeping with the status up to now, does not threaten our sovereignty or create the foundation for the presence of foreign military staff or bases on our territory without the decision of our government or parliament and does not change Slovakia’s valid international commitments related to nuclear weapons.  

The European continent, including Slovakia, has been a target for hybrid attacks including a massive disinformation campaign for several years. This has been confirmed by the findings of our intelligence services. These campaigns prey on  the minds of people in order to weaken our institutions, destabilize our society and distance us even more from our allies.  The conclusion of this agreement was also accompanied by the massive dissemination of disinformation as well as natural worries, which had to be explained. However, if during the yesterday’s parliament debate comparisons were made to the occupation agreement after 1968, it is a sign of misunderstanding.  It was stated that the 1968 occupation agreement “was more advantageous for Slovakia than the DCA”. But the Soviet armies carried out a military invasion of our territory. They did not come based on an invitation but against our will and at the cost of dozens of victims. And to compare the DCA, which was negotiated over several years and approved by a legitimate government and elected representatives in parliament with a formal agreement signed at the gunpoint of occupation tanks is an insult to the victims of the 1968 invasion. The claims of the alleged loss of jurisdiction are especially absurd when we think about the Warsaw Pact soldiers who killed over a hundred of our citizens but were never put on trial in Czechoslovakia or their home countries.      

All of the terms of the Defence Cooperation Agreement for its entering into validity were complied with by the Slovak Republic today, just as the other 23 member states of the Alliance did before us without losing their sovereignty. This includes Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic states, our neighbouring countries on the Alliance borderline."