Czech President Petr Pavel: Too many interests prevent Orbán from confronting Putin

We have to be prepared for the fact that Russia will not be our peaceful partner, Petr Pavel Czech President said. He also expressed his disagreement with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico and said that Russia would harm Europe.

Petr Pavel: Russia will harm Europe

petr pavel le monde interview — Petr Pavel giving an interview to the French daily Le Monde. Source: Facebook/Petr Pavel

Russia will harm Europe and will not be satisfied with acquiring part of Ukraine, Czech President Petr Pavel told the Austrian daily Die Presse. In the interview reviewed by hvg.hu, he also said that he does not agree with Orbán, Fico and Pellegrini that it would be easy to declare peace in the war.

“If we accept Moscow’s terms, it means that the whole of Ukraine will remain under Russian control,” says the Czech president. He believes this would mean replacing the democratically elected Ukrainian government with a Kremlin vassal.

According to Pavel, Hungary and Russia are linked by many interests, especially economic ones, and

until the new Paks power plant is up and running, it is hard to imagine Viktor Orbán strongly condemning the Kremlin’s policies.

He said that Ukraine is only one of the issues dividing the Visegrád community (the Visegrád/V4 countries are the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia – ed.). The President said that a longer confrontation between Europe and Russia is beginning, and it will not necessarily be a military confrontation.

“They want to restore the imperial greatness of the Soviet Union, including their sphere of influence at the time, and they say so very openly. We must therefore take this seriously. We must be prepared for the fact that Russia will not be our peaceful partner,” Pavel said.

Moscow has already emerged as a “destructive force” in many European countries, spreading propaganda and blatant lies,

he added. “If we want to maintain security and prosperity in this part of Europe, we need to set clear limits for Russia. Failure to do so could lead to serious complications in the future,” said the Czech President.

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