Danko claimed that he would pay for the trip to Moscow out of his own money. The reality is different, the parliament has a bill for almost 20 thousand euros on the table

A delegation of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, led by the Vice-Presidents of the Parliament Andrej Danko (SNS) and Tibor Gašpar (Smer-SD), left for a working visit to Russia on Sunday morning.

The delegation includes MPs Marián Kéry, Ján Mažgút and Richard Glück (all Smer-SD) and Adam Lučanský (SNS). According to Gašpar, the topics of the negotiations should include, among other things, natural gas supplies to Slovakia and the war in Ukraine.

When announcing the trip, Danko, the head of the nationalists, said that he would pay for it out of his own pocket. He and a group of coalition MPs are travelling to Moscow at the invitation of the Russian State Duma.

The treaty says the opposite

However, the Deputy Speaker does not seem to have kept his words. This is proved by the contract between the Chancellery of the National Assembly of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Embassy in Moscow. It is published in the Central Register of Contracts. The news website Aktuality.sk was the first to draw attention to this fact.

The total amount of the trip amounted to EUR 19 000. The document states that the Slovak embassy will reimburse the entire cost of the trip for Danko's delegation, which will then be reimbursed by the parliament's office. The budget of the Slovak Parliament is primarily made up of taxes paid by citizens and companies in Slovakia.

This means that the embassy will first pay for the necessary services, such as accommodation and transport, and then submit invoices to the Chancellery, which will reimburse these costs.

The rest of the document is fairly standard. For example, the contract states that the embassy must obtain written approval from the parliamentary office before ordering any services or goods. Once the invoices have been received and translated into Slovak, the office will reimburse the expenses in euros.

Poland did not let them through

The start of the parliamentary expedition was not entirely without complications. As the Poles had banned the flight over their territory, they diverted the flight and flew over the Czech Republic and Germany. They were due to arrive at 15:00 our time.

"I don't understand Poland's attitude, but I take it as a reality," Danko said. Before the flight, he explained that he wanted to bring information about life in Russia, among other things. "I want to show that people live there too, that Germans, French and Americans do business there," he said.

According to previous statements by Danko and Gašpar, the Slovak delegation is expected to meet with representatives of the State Duma and some members of the government. According to Danko, he wants to see how things are in Russia, for example, with Western investments.

For his part, Gašpar announced that the delegation also wants to ask whether the Russian concern Gazprom will be able to supply gas to Slovakia despite the stoppage of transit by Ukraine.

The parliamentary delegation is scheduled to return from Russia on Wednesday 15 January.

See also our report on Danko's trip to Moscow: