Status of Ukrainian citizens in Slovakia in 2022-2024

Russian full-scale aggression against Ukraine launched on 24 February 2022 caused a huge wave of Ukrainian refugees. As many European countries, primarily those neighbouring Russia or the former Soviet republics, had been expecting for some time that Russia could escalate its aspirations and demands, which could ultimately result in a very large number of Ukrainian citizens fleeing Ukraine, their response was often quick, also as regards formal and legal arrangements. One of those that immediately responded to the de facto war, not only verbally but also by amending their law, was the Slovak Republic, where as early as on Friday, 25 February 2022, a day after the Russian aggression, the government adopted proposals for several amendments bills tabled by the then Minister of Interior Roman Mikulec, which were voted on after a fast-track process at the National Council of the Slovak Republic, and then immediately signed by the then Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová. As a result, the amending act came into force on 26 February 2022 (i.e. upon its publication). The changes in Slovak law were first made in the wake of the war in Ukraine primarily to the acts on the protection of the population, asylum and cybersecurity. Also, a mutual assistance fund (fond vzájomnej pomoci) was established, and still on 25 February 2022, the Slovak government approved the funding for the Ministry of Interior to act as necessary to strengthen the IT infrastructure at the external border with Ukraine and to revamp the infrastructure of the asylum centres run by the Migration Office (financovanie opatrení ministerstva vnútra nevyhnutných pre posilnenie IT infraštruktúry na vonkajšej hranici s Ukrajinou a dobudovanie infraštruktúry azylových zariadení migračného úradu), in the amount of EUR 13 million.

Noteworthy, the Slovak legislative initiative to provide for broadly understood assistance to Ukrainian refugees was carried out in a milieu generally much more favourable towards Russia than, for example, in Poland or even in the Czech Republic. Further, the amendments to Slovak law, similarly (obviously, with due account taken of all differences at various levels) to other European countries, were aimed not only at facilitating humanitarian assistance but also at securing the state's borders and generally at ensuring the security of the state and its citizens.

A discussion of the problem posed in the title of this paper needs to take into account the division of competences in the area of migration between the European Union and its individual Member States. Slovak international obligations (which go beyond community relations within the European Union) further influence the status of Ukrainian citizens in Slovakia. However, neither public international law nor European Union law (EU law) will be the main point of reference for this study.

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