Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sabiha i Macinka, Photo: Reuters
Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka, in an unexpected visit to Kiev, confirmed the continued support for Ukraine by the new Czech government of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and said that he appreciated that Ukraine had made major concessions and wanted peace.
He also assured Ukrainians that Russia was being supported in that war in the Czech Republic by “only a few crazy people.”
“The West should be able to provide Ukraine with sufficient security guarantees to be a reliable alternative to joining NATO,” Macinka told Czech journalists last night at the end of his visit, at a conference that was suddenly organized in a shelter due to a suspicious object at the Czech embassy.
The new head of Czech diplomacy, the leader of the smallest coalition partner in the government, the conservative Eurosceptic party “Motorists for Themselves”, said during a visit to Kiev that the new Czech government believes it is important to establish contacts with the Ukrainian government as soon as possible.
“It is clear that Ukraine is truly interested in peace. I appreciate and see it personally how big concessions Ukraine was willing to make in the peace negotiations, so now the time has come for concessions from the Russian side,” said Macinka.
The head of Czech diplomacy expressed regret that, although the majority of the Czech public views Russia negatively, it is simultaneously strengthening its negative attitude towards Ukrainian refugees, and said that his task is to try to change that.
Before leaving for Kiev, in an interview with Czech Television, Macinka warned and emphasized that the majority of the Czech public has a negative attitude towards Russia.
“Of course, the vast majority of Czech citizens, with the exception of a few completely crazy people, have a very negative attitude towards Russia,” Macinka said regarding the scandal surrounding the New Year’s address by the other coalition partner in the government, the speaker of the lower house of parliament and leader of the radical nationalists, Tomi Okamura, in which he insulted Ukraine.
Okamura told the Ukrainians that when they are so corrupt, they have no place in the European Union, that they can steal, but not more than the money of Czech pensioners, and that President Volodymyr Zelensky is surrounded by a military junta that is making golden toilets out of stolen European money, while he insulted the President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen for going crazy, and accused Brussels of taking the Czech Republic and other member states by train straight into World War III.
Macinka reiterated in Kiev that the Czech Republic is not only an ally but also a friend of Ukraine.
“Ukraine is a country where war has been raging for four years, people are dying, and it needs to be given far more aid and support. The Czech Republic is not only an ally but also a friend of Ukraine and should strengthen such an approach not only at the political level but also in society where a large number of Ukrainians live,” said Macinka.
The guarantees he brought to Kiev that the Czech Republic would continue to coordinate the “Ammunition for Weapons” initiative, which both Prime Minister BabiÅ¡ and the leader of radical nationalists Okamura promised to abolish in the heat of the election campaign, and which is still being loudly demanded on social media by the radical core of Okamura’s voters, according to Macinka, symbolically confirm that even with the new populist government that includes the extreme right, the Czech Republic’s support for Ukraine is not waning.
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