The Russian ambassador to the Czech Republic, Alexander Zmejevskij, has
assured President Zeman that Moscow has no intention of changing its
position on the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, as reflected
in the 1993 agreement between Russia and the Czech Republic.
The ambassador was summoned to Prague Castle in order to discuss a
controversial draft amendment to the Russian law on veterans, which has
caused much indignation among Czech officials, including the president, who
called it a gross insult to the nation.
The proposed draft claims that the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by
Soviet-led Warsaw Pact troops was aimed at stabilising the political
situation in the country and that soldiers who took part in it were
suppressing an attempted coup.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov earlier also assured Czech and
Slovak officials that there was no change to Moscow’s official policy
line. The bilateral bilateral agreement signed in 1993 clearly states that
the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia and the deployment of Soviet troops in
the country was in breach of international law.
Minister Lavrov said the draft amendment to the law on veterans presented
in the Russian Duma was an isolated initiative by a single MP.