Nearly 89,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Ukraine, according to a joint investigation by BBC Russia and Mediazona, an increase of 3,965 killed since mid-December. It is thought the actual death toll is much higher as the numbers of deceased Russian troops include only those who could be immediately verified.

The no-confidence vote, if it succeeds, will trigger a snap election. According to a recent January poll, the liberal opposition Progressive Slovakia is the most popular party in the country on 23.9 percent support, with Fico’s ruling Smer in second on 18 percent.

Criticism hasn’t been limited to Fico’s Moscow outreach. He also came under fire from the Slovak press and the opposition recently for spending time in a luxury hotel in Vietnam, where a single night’s stay costs more than €5,000, at a time when Slovak citizens face health-care and cost-of-living crises.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico looks set to survive an upcoming no-confidence vote after rebel lawmakers in one ruling coalition party said they would not support the motion.

Slovakia's opposition parties will call a no-confidence vote against the government, a party chief said on Tuesday, accusing Prime Minister Robert Fico of dragging foreign policy closer to Russia while failing to tackle problems at home.

Thousands of Slovaks have taken to the streets as protests against the pro-Russia policies of populist Prime Minister Robert Fico spread from Slovakia's capital to towns and cities across the country and abroad.

Thousands of protesters in the Slovak capital held banners and chanted slogans on Friday accusing Prime Minister Robert Fico of dragging the country towards Russia after he met President Vladimir Putin last month amid a gas dispute with Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelensky jokingly responded to the latest statement by the Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, about a possible meeting at the World Econom

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico plans to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the coming days, and the parties are working on choosing a suitable date.

Fico said Putin guaranteed that Russia would meets its obligations, although capacity in the TurkStream pipeline and connecting route taking Russian gas through Turkey to Europe was limited. "President Putin guaranteed that they will honour their commitments," Fico said.

A delegation of Slovakia's far-right MPs, led by Deputy Speaker and leader of the nationalist party SNS Andrej Danko, is set to travel to Russia in January to "develop dialogue" following the visit by Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico.

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised Slovakia that Russia's Gazprom would find alternative ways to deliver contracted gas to Slovakia after the end of transit through Ukraine, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on Friday.