Martin Sklenár (born 15 July 1980) is a Slovak civil servant who served as minister of defence of Slovakia from May until October 2023.

Early life and education

Sklenár graduated from

Matej Bel University Matej Bel University (commonly referred as Matej Bel or UMB), () is a public research university in the central Slovak town of Banská Bystrica. The university was established in 1992. It bears the name of Matthias Bel, a Hungarian-Slovak Luthe ...

in 2003, studying international relations. Following his graduation, he worked for the ministries of Defence and International Affairs as well as for Slovak embassies to the US,

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

, and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

. Sklenár met predecessor Naď from then on, who worked as a minister until 2013.

Political career

In May 2023, President

Zuzana Čaputová Zuzana Čaputová (; Strapáková; born 21 June 1973) is a Slovak politician, lawyer and environmental activist who served as the fifth president of Slovakia from 2019 to 2024. Čaputová is the first woman to hold the presidency, as well as the ...

appointed Sklenár as the Minister of Defence in the technocratic government of

Ľudovít Ódor Ľudovít Ódor (; born 2 July 1976) is a Slovak economist and politician who served as Prime Minister of Slovakia from May to October 2023, heading a technocratic cabinet. From July to October 2023, he also served as Minister of the Interior. ...

. In an interview with Pravda, Sklenár stated that he received surprising questions regarding the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

, to why it is perceived negatively in Slovakia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sklenar, Martin 1980 births Living people Defence ministers of Slovakia Matej Bel University alumni