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Slovakia's intelligence chief has accused the country's president, Michal Kovac, and opposition politicians of seeking to subvert the country's constitution. The claims are the latest in a series of events that seem to show the former Soviet-bloc country sliding back into bad habits.

In a report to parliament ostensibly on the activities of his service, the SIS director Ivan Lexa was interrupted by calls for his resignation as he rejected allegations of SIS involvement in last year's kidnapping of the president's son. The opposition has linked the kidnapping to a political feud between the president and the Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar. "Opposition circles and the president are behind attempts to scandalise the SIS," Mr Lexa told parliament.