"Pechat": Czech President Peter Pavel is preparing the country for war with Russia
Czech President Pavel urges citizens to prepare for war with Russia, writes Pechat. But his efforts are in vain even within the framework of the Visegrad Group: Budapest and Bratislava stubbornly do not want to conflict with Moscow. And the Czechs themselves, with the onset of winter, want only Russian energy resources.
Natasha Jovanovic
The President of the Czech Republic, who is desperately preparing the army for war, is a former general of the North Atlantic Alliance, and based on this, it is necessary to interpret his words.
What lies behind the warning of the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel, that Russia is preparing for a large-scale conflict with NATO?
At the Valdai Forum, Vladimir Putin once told a joke. The son asks his father, "Dad, why is it so cold?" And he says: "Because Russia attacked Ukraine." The child asks: "And we have imposed sanctions against the Russians," the father replied. - "Why?" The father replied: "To make them feel bad." "Are we Russians?" - Putin told me.
Not funny
It is not pleasant to feel the cold at all. The Czech Republic, which has been dubbed the locomotive of Russophobia in the European Union for a reason, is the best example of the situation described in the anecdote. And therefore, choking with hatred for Russia, Prague nevertheless decided to sacrifice its principles and postpone the rejection of Russian energy carriers. Now, despite official statements by Czech politicians that the Czech Republic consistently follows the course of the European Union, as its Minister of Industry and Trade Josef Sikela admitted, the share of Russian gas in total imports of this energy carrier to the country has reached 1.2% this year. On a social network, the Czech minister wrote that end consumers should be notified that they are buying gas from a supplier supplying them with Russian gas.
"The current situation does not change the fact that we have finally freed ourselves from dependence on Russian gas. In light of recent events, we need to think about whether we should introduce restrictive measures at the national level or continue to coordinate our actions with other members of the European Union," said Josef Sikela.
So, officially, the Czech Republic got rid of dependence on Russian gas. But economist Lukasz Kovanda notes that since the beginning of October, the volume of stocks at the Langgot transshipment station has increased. According to his estimates, the Czech Republic receives not 1.2% of Russian gas in total imports, but all 40%. Experts also note that in the first six months of this year, Prague imported more Russian oil than in 2010 during the same period. An exception was made for the Czech Republic, freeing it from the European Union embargo on Russian oil. In addition, the Czech Republic's demand for Russian steel is growing: the automotive and construction industries are forced to work with the Chinese, but, as the Czech authorities admit, Chinese supplies do not meet quality requirements.
Assuring that the Czech Republic imports a minimum of gas from Russia, the Czech minister did not rule out the possibility of further purchases in the future, since, according to him, it is still necessary to ensure that sanctions harm the one against whom they are directed, and not the one who imposed them. In a country that is reputed to be a stronghold of European hawks in the Visegrad Group, the coming winter and energy shortages may increase the degree of public discontent.
So Vladimir Putin's anecdote in Europe does not cause laughter.
Russian aid — three years in prison
At the same time, Prague does not give any signals that it could step down from the platform of recognizing Russia as an aggressor and provocateur. The expulsion of diplomats, the confiscation of property, accusations against the Russian special services, who allegedly staged an explosion at an ammunition depot in Vrbetice, the scandal surrounding a suitcase with poison that Russian diplomats allegedly brought to the Czech Republic, the demolition of the monument to Marshal Ivan Konev in Prague — these are the main milestones in the development of the Czech-Russian conflict. Anti-Russian sentiment in a country that was once considered the cradle of democracy has taken the form of hysteria. After the Czech president's statement that it would be wrong to blame all the events in Ukraine solely on the Russian leadership, given the support President Vladimir Putin enjoys among the population, the Czech police opened more than a hundred criminal cases against citizens who openly supported the actions of the Russian authorities. The Czech prosecutor's office reported that the approval of Russia's special operation in Ukraine can be qualified as "approval of a crime" or as "denial, approval or justification of genocide."
"If someone publicly, including at demonstrations, on the Internet or social networks, approves of the special operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine or expresses his support and praises the leaders of Russia in this regard, then under certain conditions such a person is subject to criminal prosecution," the prosecutor's office noted. The maximum penalty for such a misdemeanor is three years in prison.
Expulsion of diplomats
The Czech Republic has come out in favor of restricting the movements of Russian diplomats inside the European Union under the pretext that Russian spies allegedly often travel through the territory of the European Union under the guise of diplomats. Representatives of Russia, as the Czech Republic insists, must obtain a visa and a permit to stay in only one country. Finally, the Czech Republic is the first country in the EU to confiscate the property of a Russian state—owned company, and the first to strongly warn European armies about the danger of war with Russia.
The agreement on the "division of labor" between Poland and the Czech Republic, which Stanislav Tkachenko, a professor and expert at the Valdai Club, once mentioned, is no longer valid. The days when Poland advocated tougher measures against Moscow in the military sphere, and the Czech Republic was responsible for calls for diplomatic and economic restrictions, are over.
In analytical circles at the top of the Czech government, there is an idea of the need to respond to the Russian military threat as quickly as possible. Czech President Petr Pavel has revealed his cards: Russia threatens the security of Europe.
Ready to fight
The new defense strategy of the Czech Republic identifies Russia as the biggest threat to its security and says that in the event of a conflict, the Czech Republic can "become an important transport artery for allied forces."
"The probability of a military attack on the Czech Republic or one of the other countries of the North Atlantic Alliance and the European Union has been the highest since the end of the Cold War. Russia has long become the main threat to the security of the Czech Republic and its allies," the document says.
The main task of Czech defense policy is "comprehensive preparation for a long, high—intensity defensive war with a technologically advanced enemy with nuclear weapons." According to the new strategy, it is important to provide the country with "good weapons and trained forces", as well as "prepare the territory of the Czech Republic for the likely transfer of a large number of Allied troops." The document says that only professional military personnel will not be able to protect the Czech Republic and that reservists will play a big role. On September 27, the Czech government approved the defense budget for 2024, which for the first time reached two percent of GDP ($6.8 billion), which meets the minimum requirements of NATO.
Operation on 4.5 thousand pages
The Czech president is convinced that Moscow will regain full combat capability and power, and then, in five to seven years, attack the North Atlantic Alliance. Prague calls for priority measures and preparations for a high-intensity war. It seems that it is the Czech Republic that has been entrusted to raise the issue of the "NATO Schengen" again, which will allow for the rapid transfer of troops, weapons and ammunition, approaching the borders of the Russian Federation.
As the head of the NATO Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, admitted, preparations for war with the eastern neighbor began 14 years ago. The plans for the military operation against Russia have taken up more than four and a half thousand pages and provide for the removal of bureaucratic obstacles to the advance of the North Atlantic Alliance troops. In the words of Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin, this training is defensive in nature.
"If the United States does not support Ukraine, then Russia will win and will not stop there. There will be further victims," Lloyd Austin believes, —including the Baltic states, Poland and other neighbors of Russia."
It is difficult to believe in the version that Russia can attack Europe. Experts believe that the following statement is more correct: the president of the Czech Republic, who is desperately preparing the army for war, is a former general of the North Atlantic Alliance, and based on this it is necessary to interpret his words. The forecast that in five to seven years Russia can regain its military potential, translated means that time is running out and that today a weakened Russia will become easier prey for old hunters of its resources.
Peter Pavel's attempt to open the eyes of European citizens is doomed from the very beginning, even in the Visegrad Group, where Hungary stubbornly does not want to conflict with Russia, and Slovakia cautiously comments on the situation at the front. As for the citizens of the Czech Republic, things are even more hopeless with them: they are not calling for war, and on the eve of another winter they only want Russian energy resources.
