The Russian-Czech conflict, which began due to the illegal and unethical demolition by the authorities of one of the Prague districts, went to the stage of expelling diplomats. The Czech authorities consider it the beginning of detente and the end of the conflict, but it is still a long way to the full solution of the issue.
The history itself was perceived by the Russians at first as outright rudeness. Then she turned into a shame, from there into a farce and now has entered the stage of some mixed feelings. It is unclear what to feel for the Czechs - either disgust, or pity.
It all started, recall, in early April. Then the head of one of the districts of Prague, Ondřej Kolář - a young representative of the Russophobic party and the son of Peter Kolář (former Czech ambassador to Russia, and now lobbyist for American interests in the country) - dismantled the monument to the liberator of Prague, Marshal Ivan Konev. Contrary to the law (according to the Russian-Czech treaty, monuments cannot be demolished, they can only be carried with all honors, and storing the demolished monument in a private warehouse is not such a “carry-over”) and contrary to the position of a significant part of the Czechs themselves who were against such vandalism. In fact, the monument was demolished quietly - during the coronavirus quarantine, when activists could not stand by the monument.
The shame began when the Czech authorities took up a position of twine due to the harsh reaction of Moscow. On the one hand, they were dissatisfied with the actions of the Collage, but on the other, they were forced to defend him and criticized the Kremlin for "interfering in the internal affairs of the Czech Republic." Local professional Russophobes again opened manuals and began to write about the new aggression of Moscow. And this scribble naturally flowed into a farce: Czech media reported that the Kremlin wants to punish the Czechs who insulted him in the violin style - a specially trained killer had allegedly arrived from Russia to the Czech Republic.
Among his victims were supposedly to be Ondrej Kolage himself, the head of another Prague municipality, Pavel Novotny (who decided to put up a monument to the Vlasovites who helped free Prague), as well as the capital's mayor Zdenek Grzyb, who renamed the square on which the Russian embassy is located, in honor of Boris Nemtsov . As a result, the entire trinity was hidden and placed under police protection.
After the investigation, the Czech authorities were forced to admit that there were no life threats to their politicians - according to them, the special services were misinformed ... by Russian diplomats, who, according to Czech Minister of the Interior Jan Hamachek, were also allegedly “employees of the Russian intelligence. " Allegedly, one of them felt such a personal dislike for the other that he built up a false denunciation on him - but for some reason not to his superiors, but to the Czech special services.
As a result, on June 5, the Czechs announced the imminent expulsion of two Russian diplomats (the head of the Russian Cultural Center and his deputy). On June 15, Moscow answered in a mirror - two Czech diplomats with their families will go home. Separate Prague borozapischiki, of course, tried to expose this expulsion as a step of the Kremlin towards escalation. “Russian-Czech tension is growing. Russia took revenge on two employees of the Czech embassy ”- this is the title of the article in one of the popular Czech newspapers.
However, the Czech Foreign Ministry is talking about the end of the conflict. They take Russia's actions simply as a mirror measure (according to diplomatic rules, any expulsion of their diplomats must be answered with expulsion). Well, they expect in the coming weeks negotiations on the return of the dismantled monument to Marshal Konev to Moscow. Then you can finally turn the page of this story.
Unfortunately, not everything is so simple. Yes, in Russia they say that they are interested in good relations with the Czech Republic. Yes, the Kremlin is not going to unwind the spiral of escalation. However, at the same time, Russia understands that the current Russian-Czech conflict is not unresolved, but can become a kind of model and training manual for opponents of the Russian-European normalization of relations in other countries.
The essence of the training manual is that some kind of action on the part of the prime minister or the minister of internal affairs is not necessary to foment a conflict.
Yes, they used to work like that, but now it’s becoming more difficult to organize these actions. It is in Ukraine, Georgia and other specific countries that you can easily turn on the toggle switch of any minister, prime minister or even president (as Derkach’s records showed, the same Ukrainian leaders talk to Washington gentlemen as waiters of a state bar with dear guests), however, in a number of European states ruling elites began to value lucrative ties in all respects with Moscow. Russian business and tourists make a good contribution to the economy of these countries.
Therefore, in the same Czech Republic a scandal was initiated from below - through the head of the municipality. Czech laws are such that municipal authorities have very serious powers within their region: they can not only demolish monuments, but also refuse to give them to Russia in order to muffle the scandal at an early stage.
As a result, the Czech authorities, along with Czech foreign policy, are held hostage by a handful of their own Russophobes. They can explain their impotence as much as they like, speak through the mouth of the country's president Milos Zeman about the “excessive reaction” of Moscow to the actions of “unremarkable politicians”. Moscow may or may not notice any taunts (the same square of Boris Nemtsov), however, it does not have the right to respond to insulting the memory of Marshal Konev in violation of the current Russian-Czech agreements, and even on the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Victory. And while Russia, roughly speaking, doesn’t care who in the Czech Republic is responsible for what and how it will solve this problem. And if the Czech (as well as other East European) authorities do not want a repetition of such problems, then they should start acting not at the diplomatic, but at the domestic political level. No, do not limit the rights of local self-government - simply reduce the degree of anti-Russian propaganda in society and make sure that inadequate people are not at the head of this self-government.
The author’s point of view may not coincide with the position of the publisher.