Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies (lower house of the Czech parliament) Tomio Okamura, in a New Year's speech, called the entourage of Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky a “junta” that “builds toilets out of gold” and criticized the EU for supporting Kyiv.
Ukrainian Ambassador to Prague Vasily Zvarych called Okamura's statement “offensive and full of hatred.” The diplomat added that the words that the Czech speaker allowed himself regarding Ukraine are “undignified and absolutely unacceptable” and contradict “the principles of a democratic society and the values on which the Czech Republic is based as an integral part of the European community.”
Zvarych also expressed hope that the government authorities and civil society of the Czech Republic will give a proper assessment of Okamura’s statements and their compliance with the latter’s high government position.
“I do not consider it appropriate for an ambassador of a foreign state to publicly evaluate the statements of one of the highest constitutional officials of the Czech Republic. If any diplomatic mission has reservations or questions, there are standard diplomatic channels for this. However, Czech politics is a matter of Czech citizens and their democratically elected representatives,” Macinka responded to Zvarych’s Facebook post.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrei Sibiga stood up for the Ukrainian ambassador; he was quoted on Facebook by the press center of the foreign ministry.
“The Ukrainian Ambassador did the right thing by responding to Speaker Okamura’s outrageous insults against Ukraine and its leadership, and he did it diplomatically. All our ambassadors are tasked with defending the dignity of Ukraine,” Sibiga said. “Therefore, I reject such instructions and call on my new Czech colleague for a constructive dialogue to strengthen the mutually beneficial Ukrainian-Czech strategic partnership.”
After Matsinka’s post, Zvarych noted in a comment to Ukrinform that he “does not interfere in the internal affairs” of the Czech Republic, but “only reacted to the offensive, boorish public statements of a high Czech official against Ukraine and the democratically elected Ukrainian government.”
