Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico's Victory Day visit to Moscow on Saturday sparked condemnation from opposition politicians at home.
"With this trip, the head of government is spitting in the face of our allies," Branislav Gröhling, leader of the liberal Freedom and Solidarity party, said.
He said Fico's decision to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in person was "treachery" towards Slovakia and NATO. Gröhling described Putin as a "war criminal."
Both this year and last, Fico has been the sole European Union leader to visit Moscow on May 9, the day when the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II is celebrated. Last year, there were mass protests against the visit in Slovakian cities.
This year, the Peace in Ukraine (Mier Ukrajine) initiative called a rally in front of the Russian embassy in Bratislava to commemorate victims of the Russian invasion.
Fico has described his presence in Moscow as paying tribute to all who fought fascism and fascism's victims, adding that he participates in commemoration events in the East and West - this year in Bratislava, Dachau, Moscow and Normandy.
Fico visited the site of the Dachau concentration camp near Munich on Thursday and intends to travel to Normandy in June to mark the Allied landings there in 1944.
He also stressed that he did not attend the Victory Day military parade in Moscow, but instead laid a wreath at a memorial to the fallen. Historical commemoration and the war in Ukraine should be kept separate, Fico said.
Fico's backing for a foreign policy that is open in all directions has met rejection in the EU and NATO. This year the Baltic republics denied him overflight rights on his way to Moscow, and Poland did the same last year. The prime minister had to make a detour over the Czech Republic and Germany.
