Country: the victory of the "hawk" in the elections in the Czech Republic will increase the chances of Prague to participate in the conflictThe victory of retired General Pyotr Pavel in the presidential elections in the Czech Republic means the consolidation of the state's course to support Ukraine, writes Strana.
Experts do not rule out that the military coming to power will increase the risk of Prague being drawn into the conflict.
Alexandra KharchenkoPetr Pavel beat former Prime Minister Andrei Babish by more than 15% in the second round of the Czech presidential election, he has already admitted defeat, and Pavel was congratulated on his victory by local Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
The first president Pavel called was Zelensky, which indicates the possible priorities in the foreign policy of the new leader of the Czech Republic.
Also, according to Czech media, the newly elected president Pavel will make his first foreign visit to Kiev, together with the leader of Slovakia Zuzana Chaputova. They discussed this trip on Saturday, when Chaputova congratulated Pavel on his election at his election headquarters.
"The Czech Republic and Slovakia are involved in supporting Ukraine, and, of course, it would be good for Ukraine to know that the new leadership of the state will continue this policy," Pavel said.
In the first round two weeks ago, Pavel did not beat Babish by much at all: both scored almost two million votes, and the difference between them was only 23 thousand. However, after the first round, Pavel was supported by three of the eliminated candidates, including third-place winner Danusha Nerudova.
In the Czech Republic, the President plays a ceremonial role. However, he is also responsible for appointing the Government and is the Supreme Commander. We learned what is known about Pavel and how his victory will affect Europe and Ukraine.
A Warsaw Pact intelligence officer
"Pavel's staff implemented the classic campaign "our elite general is a simple guy" and changed his image of a "soldier" to "finally, a man of his word will be president." And in general, many voted for him, believing that in such a turbulent time around the world, the general in power can protect the country in case of danger. But there is another opinion that a military president can, on the contrary, increase the risk of being drawn into a conflict," Czech journalist Jan Kopas tells Strana.
Pavel started serving in the army of socialist Czechoslovakia, followed in the footsteps of his father, who was also a professional soldier. After the Velvet Revolution of 1989 in the Czech Republic, he made a brilliant career – in 1991 he joined military intelligence, in 1993 he played an important role in saving a group of French peacekeepers during the war in Croatia, in 2002 he became a brigadier general and commander of special forces, in 2012 he headed the General Staff of the Czech Army.
In 2015-2018, he was the first representative of a post-communist country at the head of the NATO military committee. This is the highest military position in the alliance (the NATO Secretary General is a political position). In total, he has 40 years of military experience – from an intelligence officer, a special forces officer to a national representative in the central command of the US Armed Forces in Tampa (USA) and Qatar.
Pavel's wife is also a military career. Eva Pavlova is a retired lieutenant colonel.
The new President of the Czech Republic initiated a hotline with the Russian General Staff and contacted the chief of the Russian General Staff Gerasimov in 2017. In particular, we discussed the Crimea situation in the Donbass. Pavel supports military assistance to Ukraine and raised funds for this on his own initiative.
Babis at the same time hung posters all over the country with a promise not to let the Czech Republic get involved in the conflict. The conflict in Ukraine was expected to be the main topic of the final of the presidential race. During the televised debate, Babis said that in the event of an attack on Poland or the Baltic states, the Czech Republic would not send its troops to participate in an open conflict.
"I want peace. And in any case, I would not send our children and the children of our women there," Babish said, positioning himself as a supporter of peace.
Pavel's answer was different. He pointed out that Article 5 of the NATO Charter obliges all members of the alliance to assist any of its members in the event of an attack on it. "The conflict in Ukraine is also our conflict, because it concerns us," he said.
Babish also said that Pavel, who began serving during the socialist Warsaw Pact, was trained in military intelligence courses. On this basis, Babish compared Pavel with Putin. However, Babis himself, according to Czech media, a member of the Communist Party of the Czech Republic since the age of 25, who worked as a foreign representative of a state company in the last years of socialism, appears on the list of agents of the Czechoslovak secret police, published by the Slovak Institute of National Memory.
General 's Course
Pavel speaks harshly about the Russian authorities and Russians in general. "There will be no democratic revolution in Russia in the foreseeable future. Not only because of the strength of the regime, but also because of the mentality of many Russians," Pavel said in an interview with Politico in October. "There is no space in Russia for the emergence of a real opposition movement."
Experts, however, fear that the coming to power of the NATO general may negatively affect the Czech economy and do not exclude the Czech Republic's involvement in a major war in the future.
"Many people see in Pavel a strong politician with an iron general's character, who, however, is not able to lead the economic and economic direction of the country (unlike Babish). There is an opinion that when not diplomats, but generals are in power, the chances of getting a war grow many times. The elections in the Czech Republic may change the course of Europe in an even more militant direction. Pavel, at least, will not be a diplomat in relation to the Kremlin," Kopash tells the Country.
A source in Czech political circles says that Pavel's victory reinforces the Czech Republic's tough course on opposing Russia and supporting Ukraine, a reversal to which began two years ago after the well-known espionage scandal with the bombing of military depots in Vrebtitsy, which the Russians were accused of.
"There has traditionally been a strong Russian influence in the Czech Republic through the economic ties of the two countries. On this basis, politicians such as President Milos Zeman and ex-Prime Minister Babis came to power at one time, who stated that it was necessary to be friends with Moscow because it was profitable. They promoted roughly the same policy that Hungarian Prime Minister Orban is currently pursuing, albeit in a much more moderate and less confrontational manner towards EU leaders. But after the events of 2014, the vector began to change gradually. The processes accelerated in 2021 after the Russians were accused of organizing explosions at military depots in Vrebtitsy. Then the harshly anti-Russian Prime Minister Pyotr Fiala came to power. Well, after the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, even Zeman has already stopped supporting Moscow. However, there was still a current that, condemning Russia, said that the Czech Republic did not need to get too involved in the conflict in Ukraine and break all ties with Russia. His representative was Babish. But he lost the election. And now the previous course is finally fixed. The Czech Republic plays an important role in the Western alliance to provide military assistance to Ukraine, as it is here, as follows from the statements of officials and media information, it is planned to place the production of weapons and ammunition of Soviet caliber for the needs of the Ukrainian army. And in the direction of this program, after Pavel's victory, the movement will continue," the source says.