Slovenian president rejects Russian spy links after crash with friend tied to Moscow

In late July, President Natasa Pirc Musar was injured in a traffic accident that also included two passengers, one of whom was Viktorija Krivolucka, a Russian-origin friend who obtained Slovenian citizenship in 2016. Reports linked Krivolucka to Roman Jeglic, a disgraced former Slovenian intelligence official who fled to Russia in the mid-1990s, sparking criticism from the conservative Slovenian Democratic Party, which urged that the president be barred from intelligence reports.

On August 18, the president’s office categorically denied any collaboration with Russian intelligence and said Krivolucka had undergone proper vetting. Krivolucka confirmed she lived with Jeglic in Russia for several years but claimed she has not been in contact with him for 15 years. President Pirc Musar, elected as an independent in 2022, is widely regarded as liberal, pro-European and a vocal critic of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The episode highlights persistent concerns about foreign influence within Slovenia’s highest office.