Analysis

Moscow’s Shadow Looms Over Bratislava

Russia’s historic role remains central to the debate over Slovak foreign policy today. October 31, 2025, 2:30 PM Comment icon View Comments ( )

A group of young people walk down a road past Soviet tanks. One person holds up a small flag of Czechoslovakia.

The Slovak National Uprising Square in central Bratislava is no stranger to upheaval. Evidence of the city’s turbulent history surrounds the square and its pastel-colored buildings. Walk a few blocks away and you’ll find a street corner sometimes covered in wreaths honoring three people killed there during the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. The square itself was a focal point for the Velvet Revolution, which brought down a Soviet-backed communist regime in Czechoslovak

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