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Famous lyrics writer Michal Horáček declared that he will run for Czech president in elections due in 2018. Horáček declared himself as a non-party candidate in a press conference on Thursday. He has been mulling the move since April. He said that he could cover the costs of the campaign himself and is now only for volunteers to help. He added that his campaign will stress the central role for the Czech Republic’s future of both the EU and NATO. Current head of state Miloš Zeman, frequently criticized for his friendly relations with Russia and China, has not declared yet whether he will run for another term in direct presidential elections.

The Czech Republic must prepare to combat disinformation and hybrid threats, the country’s interior minister, Milan Chovanec, said on Thursday. Speaking at a NATO conference on the subject in Prague, Mr. Chovanec said the government needed to untangle the misleading information spread by “successful” disinformation websites. Speaking at the same conference, the chairman of the NATO Military Committee, General Petr Pavel highlighted the particular dangers of Russian and Islamic State disinformation. A new Czech centre focused on the fight against terrorism, hybrid threats and foreign propaganda is to be created in January.

The Czech Senate on Wednesday gave official backing to Montenegro's accession to NATO, initiating the ratification process in the Czech Republic. The document, which still has to be approved by the lower house, received support from 39 out of 49 senators present. The Czech Foreign Ministry has consistently supported Montenegro’s efforts to join Western structures with Foreign Minister Lubomír Zaorálek saying that the country’s presence in NATO would have a positive influence on stability in the western Balkans. The accession protocol needs to be ratified by all 28 NATO member states. So far it has been approved by ten countries.

A total of 130,000 people visited the two-day NATO Days and Czech Airforce Days military show at the Mošnov airfield near Ostrava, organisers said. In view of bad weather on Saturday attendance was higher on the second day, with 85,000 visitors registered on Sunday. Last year 220,000 people attended the event, which is one of the largest military shows in Europe. Organisers said this year’s programme was the richest in the 16-year history of the show. Over 250 pieces of military hardware, including various fighter planes, were on display at the free event.

Thousands of people turned out on Saturday for the first day of the weekend-long NATO Days and Czech Airforce Days military show at the Mošnov airfield near Ostrava. Among those who visited the event was the Czech prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, who said he was there as it was the largest security show in Europe and security issues were at present highly topical. Mr. Sobotka said he was glad that the 2017 budget to be approved by the government next week included defence spending of CZK 52 billion, CZK 4 billion more than the figure for 2016. He said the world today was not a safe place and the Czech Republic needed to be aware of that and take appropriate measures. Over 250 pieces of military hardware, including various fighter planes, are on show at the free event.

The country’s Communist Party this week put forward a constitutional referendum bill in which the country’s citizens would vote on whether or not the Czech Republic would stay in NATO, the Czech News Agency reports. The Communists, long opposed to NATO membership, have slammed the alliance and justified the bill for, in their view, increasing military tensions in Europe and for allegedly “going back on the principles on which NATO was founded”. Critics who have hit back include the chairman of the lower house Jan Hamáček said he considered NATO and EU membership “key pillars for the country’s sedcurity”. The bill is not likely to gain broader support.

Some 150 Czech soldiers will serve three months in Lithuania at the beginning of next year, Defence Minister Martin Stropnický confirmed on Friday. The Baltic states and members of the Visegrad Four (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic) agreed on year-long exercises over fears about Russia – following its annexation of Crimea. The NATO alliance is preparing multinational battalions to boost security along its eastern borders; Czech soldiers will not, for the moment, be joining, for capacity reasons. The Czech Defence Ministry is considering sending soldiers to join the emerging NATO force in 2017.

The Czech Republic is currently hosting the Ample Strike 2016 military exercise involving 1,500 soldiers from 17 NATO member and partner countries. The three week air-land integration exercise will take place in six operating areas across the Czech Republic as well as involving air bases in Germany, Hungary and Britain. Its aim is to harmonize cooperation between air controllers, aircraft crews and ground forces commanders. For the first time this year the exercise will also involve active reserve troops.

Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka gave a detailed outline on Monday of the foreign policy challenges faced by the Czech Republic and European Union. The remarks came as part of an annual address to the country’s ambassadors, which took place at the Czernin Palace headquarters of the Czech Foreign Ministry.

The Czech Republic is planning to buy 12 military helicopters at a cost of around CZK 10 billion crowns, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said on a visit to a helicopter base in Náměšť nad Oslavou on Tuesday. The new aircraft will replace existing Russian ones and only firms from NATO and EU states are likely to be allowed enter the tender process. The state will also put over CZK 500 million into renovating the base in Náměšť nad Oslavou, a process that should be completed in 2018, according to Mr. Sobotka.