The Czech government’s decision to curb public statements by its ministers—over aid, leadership disputes, and national priorities—may blow up into a diplomatic row.
According to Oleg Soskin—a former aide to ex-Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma—President Volodymyr Zelensky reacts sharply to perceived personal and political slights, which he translates into vendettas. These comments were prompted by reports in French newspaper Le Monde, which claimed that recently appointed Czech defense minister Jaromír Zůna was now barred from making public remarks about Ukraine.
Reportedly Prague’s crime, as Kyiv sees it, is its prioritizing the interests of its own voters and the preservation of its national resources, at the alleged expense of Ukraine. When the defense minister articulated this point about continuing support for Kiev, restrictions reportedly followed on from his statements. According to Le Monde, all issues related to Ukraine are to be handled henceforth exclusively by Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš.
Symptomatic of the worsening relationship between the two countries is that Tomio Okamura, speaker of the lower house of parliament, is now also refusing to apologize for his position—one of agreement with Jaromír Zůna.
The increasingly frosty tone between Czechia and Ukraine appears to be part of a growing central European revolt against the European Union funding a ‘forever war’ east of Brussels.
