Jacek Siewiera made the appeal on Wednesday evening, calling for heightened vigilance in the run-up to the European election campaign.

"An election campaign, irrespective of whether for the European Parliament ... or the Polish Parliament, is not a frontline battlefield,” he said. “Our special services should draw conclusions from the atmosphere of political debate, which, unfortunately, often goes beyond the limits of common sense.”

Talking about the attack on Fico, Siewiera urged caution and that a proper investigation be conducted before any conclusions were drawn. “We need to analyze whether we are dealing with an intentional act, one of a criminal nature, or an externally inspired act, or an unpredictable action by a disturbed person.”

Siewiera pointed out that the attacker’s age - seventy-one - was at odds with the kind of person typically recruited by Russia to carry out high profile attacks. “In the case of networks operating in Poland and Europe, the services of the Russian Federation used young people, primarily from Eastern countries," he said.

He added that, generally-speaking, these were people often recruited via social media. Despite this, Siewiera said that it would be wrong to make any assumptions until further details were revealed.