The Czech Republic will remain an enemy of Russia
Moscow
Despite calls from Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis to normalize relations with the Russian Federation, Moscow will not exclude the Czech Republic from the list of unfriendly states, where it was included along with the United States.
Mikhail Vedernikov, a senior researcher at the Center for Visegrad Studies at the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences, said this, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“The fact that the deterioration of Czech-Russian relations was largely a derivative of the Czech Republic’s solidarity with the United States puts Prague in an awkward position. The proposals voiced by Babis to normalize relations can be explained by the desire not to remain the only country on the list of “unfriendly states.” Internal factors include pressure from business circles, which see the prospect of large economic losses from the Czech-Russian conflict,” the expert said.
According to him, Now only the Czech side is demonstrating a desire to reconcile - the Russian authorities are not ready to do it so soon. In particular, Moscow is waiting for more substantive proposals from Prague that could suit it, for example, on the issue surrounding the Dukovany nuclear power plant (Rosatom was excluded from the list of applicants for the construction of a new power unit).
“Given the wave of anti-Russian hysteria that was created during the past crisis, we can hardly expect reciprocal steps on this issue. It is very likely that after the parliamentary elections a new government will be formed - without the current Prime Minister Babis. It will be ideologically anti-Russian, even Russophobic. Therefore, the reluctance of the Russian Federation to rush into the Czech issue is explainable and understandable. However, if Babish remains in power, there is a possibility of looking for contact and building a dialogue,” Vedernikov believes.
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