Beyond attempts to copy ‘foreign agent’ laws seen in other countries, Slovak authorities are deploying a well-worn playbook to villainise those who hold them to account. Robert Fico and his minister of interior have gone so far as to accuse civil society groups of plotting a “state coup”. The hostility extends to minority rights as well, with the minister of culture publicly disparaging LGBTI human rights defenders and branding them a ‘malignant ideology’ and stating they will ‘no longer receive a cent’