A diplomatic dispute has broken out between Ukraine and the Czech Republic following a New Year’s speech by Czech parliamentary speaker Tomio Okamura, in which he attacked Ukraine and its leadership, provoking a sharp reaction from the opposition parties, and from Ukrainian politicians and diplomats.
In a combative speech, Okamura (SPD) criticised the provision of arms to Ukraine and expressed opposition to Ukraine’s membership of the EU, harshly criticising the EU’s stance on the war, and referring to the Ukrainian president’s inner circle as “Ukrainian thieves around the Zelenskiy junta”.
“The money pipelines are flowing in all directions and everyone is making a killing in this business,” Okamura said. “Western companies and governments, as well as Ukrainian thieves around the Zelenskiy junta who are building toilets out of gold. Let them steal, but not from our pockets, and let such a country not be in the European Union.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to the Czech Republic, Vasyl Zvarych, responded on Facebook on Thursday evening that Okamura’s words were offensive, hateful and shaped by Russian propaganda.
“The words he dared to use against my compatriots and Ukraine, including the democratically elected leadership of the Ukrainian state, are undignified and completely unacceptable,” wrote Zvarych. “They contradict the principles of a democratic society and the values on which the Czech Republic, as an integral part of the European community, is founded.”
However, Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka hit back on Friday, stating that he did not consider it appropriate for the ambassador of a foreign state to publicly evaluate the statements of a senior Czech constitutional official.
“If any diplomatic mission has reservations or questions, there are standard diplomatic channels to do so,” said Macinka. “However, Czech politics is a matter for Czech citizens and their democratically elected representatives.”
In response, Macinka’s Ukrainian counterpart, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha, said that Zvarych had reacted in an absolutely correct and diplomatic manner.
“All our ambassadors are instructed to protect Ukraine’s dignity,” he wrote on social media. “Therefore, I reject such lecturing – and instead call on my new Czech counterpart to engage in constructive dialogue in order to strengthen the mutually beneficial Ukrainian-Czech strategic partnership.”
Yesterday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mariana Wernerova confirmed that Macinka (Motorists) plans to invite Zvarych to discuss his comments, after Finance Minister Alena Schillerova (ANO) also mentioned the possible meeting on Prima TV earlier yesterday. Wernerova said the date is still being arranged.
Wernerova added that it was not a question of summoning the ambassador, which is an institution used in diplomacy to protest or express the host country’s serious concern about the ambassador’s home country. “The minister wants to talk to the ambassador and clarify some things,” she told CTK.
Opposition politicians have expressed surprise that the leaders of SPD’s coalition partners, ANO and the Motorists, have not distanced themselves from Okamura’s words, but instead criticised and demanded an explanation from the Ukrainian ambassador.
Commenting on Okamura’s speech, Schillerova said she herself would not have chosen such strong words, and that the coalition will probably discuss the situation at the Coalition Council meeting on Monday.
Deputy PM and Industry and Trade Minister Karel Havlicek (ANO) called the form of Okamura’s speech “beyond the pale” in a debate on Czech Television yesterday, but added that he considers the opposition’s proposal to remove Okamura as speaker to be “hysteria”.
President Petr Pavel said that Okamura’s speech has raised concern in the Czech Republic and abroad, and stated that he wants to discuss the issue with Prime Minister and ANO leader Andrej Babis on 7 January, when the two men will meet at Prague Castle for the traditional New Year’s lunch between the head of state and the prime minister.
Babis has not yet commented on Okamura’s speech, but will fly to Paris tomorrow to attend a meeting of leaders of the so-called Coalition of the Willing – states who are supporting Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion.
“Several days have passed since Tomio Okamura’s crazy speech, and Prime Minister Babis has remained silent,” said Deputy Speaker Jan Skopecek (ODS), speaking on Prima TV. “So he is probably not such a strong player in foreign policy, because Okamura and [fellow SPD MP Jindrich] Rajchl are doing his foreign policy now.”
Opposition politicians have described his statements as shameful and unacceptable coming from one of the country’s highest constitutional officials, and called on the Chamber of Deputies and the Babis government to distance themselves from Okamura’s words.
The leader of the opposition Mayors and Independents (STAN), Vit Rakusan, wrote on social media yesterday that it was Okamura who was “over the line”, not Zvarych, as Schillerova and other government politicians have claimed.
“Macinka wants to invite the Ukrainian ambassador over his criticism of Okamura’s speech,” said TOP 09 MP Marek Zenisek. “This is not diplomacy from our foreign minister, it is a moral failure. I am ashamed of such an outrage.” He said the Ukrainian ambassador had every right to react when a Czech politician relativises Russian aggression against Ukraine.
In a statement sent to CTK yesterday, the heads of the four opposition groups in the Senate described Okamura’s remarks as “scandalous”, and called on Babis to make it clear to Okamura that his actions were harmful to the Czech Republic, adding that they were incompatible with the responsible exercise of the highest constitutional posts and with the declared principles of the government’s foreign policy.
The opposition now intends to call for a vote in the Chamber of Deputies to remove Okamura from its leadership over the controversial speech. The leaders of the former five-coalition government – the Civic Democrats (ODS), Mayors and Independents (STAN), Pirates, Christian Democrats (KDU-CSL) and TOP 09 – have agreed on a joint procedure for voting on Okamura’s dismissal.
Pavel Havlicek, an expert at the Czech Association for International Affairs, told CTK that Okamura’s speech would not irreversibly damage relations between the Czech Republic and Ukraine.
“If we look at neighbouring Slovakia, Ukraine has learnt that in such situations the rhetoric of heads of state is one thing, but practical action is quite another, which can be very different from the words that are spoken,” Havlicek added. He predicted that the Czech Republic could see further similar statements about Ukraine in the coming months and years, and the relationship would depend on the attitude of the Czech government as a whole.
