Czech Republic Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP Sunday that Europe will need to invest in the defense of Ukraine to halt Russia’s war and ensure the continent’s own security.
The center-right government in Prague has been a strong ally for Kyiv since the beginning of Russia’s invasion in 2022.
With last month’s election win of self-described “Trumpist” billionaire Andrej Babis, the outgoing government fears changes in policy would end the Czech supply of hundreds of thousands of munitions to Ukraine.
“We know that if we want to stop Russia, we have to pay for it,” Lipavsky told AFP from the sidelines of the European Union-CELAC summit in Santa Maria, Colombia.
The outgoing foreign minister, who will serve as an opposition parliamentarian, added that Babis and his allies are “speaking about stopping the ammunition initiative or limiting it.”
Babis, who was prime minister between 2017 and 2021, failed to secure a majority during his re-election, which means he will negotiate with far-right and Eurosceptic parties to form a government.
His return to power could align the Czech Republic with Hungary and Slovakia, countries that refuse to send military aid to Ukraine or sanction Russia.
Prague shares intelligence with and supplies munitions to Kyiv — meeting its NATO-required quota for military spending — to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin and his expansionist ambitions.
Lipavsky said he does not foresee the Babis government leaving NATO membership because it is “an ultimate provider of security and it guides us on how we should design our defense.”
Lipavsky warned that Russia still sees the former Soviet satellite state as “some kind of territory which they would like to influence and steal resources from.”
In that sense, a far-right government in the Czech Republic “would be a wonderful gift for Vladimir Putin,” the minister said.
als/lv/ad/sla/mlm