Tomáš Kopečný, the Czech government’s commissioner for Ukraine reconstruction, sparked controversy in Moscow with his choice of footwear during a meeting with Zelenskyy in Prague. The socks featured an image of the Kremlin burning.
“Russians have been bombarding Ukrainian cities with missiles and killing innocent people for four years. This doesn’t bother them. Ukrainian socks symbolically showing what it would look like if the same thing happened in their cities angered them. I wish they showed the same sensitivity to cities where they themselves cause exactly this,” Kopečný said TN.cz.
Andrei Klimov, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on International Affairs, responded, “Now Kopečný wears socks, underwear, and tomorrow he will come in a brace. Why do we look at these bastards as if our lives depended on them? Sick people – they need a psychiatrist.”
This isn’t the first time Kremlin representatives have used harsh language against Czechs who displeased them. In April, Putin’s collaborator and Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev targeted former hockey legend Dominik Hašek and suggested Russia would try to eliminate him.
In early February, Medvedev also made several sharp statements about Senator Miroslava Němcová (ODS) and the entire Czech Republic. He threatened a new Prague Spring with the difference that this time Czechs with similar attitudes to Senator Němcová would die.
President Zelenskyy and First Lady Olena Zelenska made a two-day visit to the Czech Republic in early May. During the visit, Zelenskyy met with Czech President Petr Pavel, Prime Minister Petr Fiala, heads of the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, parliamentary faction leaders, defense company executives, students, and the Ukrainian community.
In February 2024, Czech President Petr Pavel announced the Czech Initiative at the Munich Security Conference, with an initial goal of procuring 800,000 artillery shells for Ukraine.
During a meeting with Czech President Petr Pavel in Prague on 4 May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine expects to receive a total of 1.8 million shells through the Czech Initiative by the end of 2025.
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