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Ukraine, Czechia Exchange Diplomatic Summons Over Controversial Lawmaker Remarks
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Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry summoned Czechia’s chargé d’affaires in Kyiv on Monday in what it described as a mirror move after Prague said it would call in Ukraine’s ambassador to explain what Czech officials called an inappropriate reaction to Czech parliament speaker Tomio Okamura’s New Year remarks, according to NV on January 5.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Herorhii Tykhyi said Kyiv’s step mirrored the Czech move and sought to keep the dispute from damaging bilateral ties.
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“We value our strategic partnership with Czechia and are grateful to the Czech people for unwavering solidarity with our country since the first days of Russia’s full-scale invasion,” Tykhyi said.
“We are convinced that the shameful statements of individual politicians should not harm our fruitful bilateral cooperation, which strengthens both countries amid extraordinary security challenges for Ukraine, Czechia, and the rest of Europe,” he added.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the Czech Republic, Vasyl Zvarych, called the speaker’s remarks “offensive and full of hatred.” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry described the statement as Okamura’s personal position, shaped by Russian propaganda.
Earlier, Okamura opposed providing weapons to Ukraine, calling the war “absolutely senseless” and saying such spending used money that “belongs to Czech pensioners, people with disabilities, and families with children.”
He also said “money is flowing in all directions,” accusing “Western companies and governments” and “Ukrainian thieves around the Zelenskyy junta” of profiting and “building toilets out of gold,” and added: “Let them steal, but not from us, and let such a country not be in the European Union.”
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