Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, was shot and seriously wounded on Wednesday in what the government called an assassination attempt.
A post on the prime minister’s official and verified Facebook page said that Mr. Fico was in “life-threatening condition” after sustaining “multiple” gunshot wounds.
“The next few hours will decide,” the post said.
The attack unfolded in the central Slovak town of Handlova. Mr. Fico, a veteran politician, held a government meeting and then a nearly hour-long press conference. He was shot outside of the venue while greeting supporters, local media reported.
The exact nature of Mr. Fico’s injuries was not immediately known. There was no immediate comment from the police.
Images from the scene published by the Reuters news agency showed what appeared to be members of Mr. Fico’s security detail running around a black sedan. Other photographs showed a person handcuffed on the ground at the scene.
The president of Slovakia, Zuzana Caputova, whose position is largely ceremonial, condemned what she described as a “brutal and reckless attack.”
“I am shocked,” she wrote in a message on Facebook. “I wish Robert Fico a lot of strength in this critical moment to recover from the attack.”
Ms. Caputova, whose term ends in June, has used her limited powers to resist Mr. Fico’s drift toward Russia and his efforts to limit the judiciary’s ability to prosecute corruption.
Mr. Fico has aligned with the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, in opposing aid to Ukraine and challenging mainstream opinions within the European Union.
On Wednesday, Mr. Orban was quick to send good wishes to Mr. Fico, whom he called “my friend.”
“We pray for his health and quick recovery,” Mr. Orban wrote on social media.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, who has butted heads with Mr. Fico in the past, said she strongly condemned the “vile attack.”
“Such acts of violence have no place in our society and undermine democracy, our most precious common good,” she wrote on social media.
Mr. Fico, who ended an earlier stint as prime minister by resigning in 2018 amid a swirl of corruption accusations, has also followed Mr. Orban in trying to erode the independence of his country’s judiciary and in casting supporters of Ukraine as disloyal lackeys of the United States.
Mr. Fico returned to power after a general election in September, reviving a political career that many had considered over when he quit amid large street protests after the killing of an investigative journalist who had been looking into government graft.
Since coming to office, Mr. Fico has sought to undermine the independence of media outlets, according to an open letter written by Reporters Without Borders and other press freedom groups, as his nominally leftist Smer party has increasingly moved to the right on immigration and cultural issues.
In October, Mr. Fico said he was halting all military aid to Ukraine, but said it would continue nonmilitary aid, in what would make Slovakia the first among those countries that have sent weapons to Kyiv since the war broke out to say it would stop.
