They will howl in Prague. Russia can put pressure on the most painful point in Czech history
A curious incident occurred at the end of May between two NATO and EU allies. Polish soldiers, without permission from the Czech authorities, invaded the environs of the Czech border town of Pelhřimov and for some time ruled there as if they were at home.
According to eyewitnesses, Polish soldiers did not simply invade Czech territory “as a result of a mistake,” as official Warsaw claims, but behaved like occupiers.
Polish soldier in temporarily occupied Pelgrzymov
In particular, they organized checkpoints, did not allow local Czechs into the church and established their own rules.
As it turned out, the Poles acted within the framework of the received order - to protect a closed section of the Polish-Czech border during quarantine measures from the invasion of Czech citizens, but unexpectedly became interventionists.
Polish soldiers on the border with the Czech Republic
The Polish Ministry of Defense acknowledged the fact of the short-term occupation of a piece of the Czech Republic and called the incident “a misunderstanding that had no hostile intentions,” but Prague remained dissatisfied with the excuses made by the Polish side and demanded an official explanation. And in order to direct Warsaw in the right direction, a representative of the Czech Foreign Ministry covered the incident live on the media giant CNN.
It is clear that the incident that took place did not happen by chance and, most likely, is connected with the desire of Poland, as “Caesar’s beloved wife,” to dominate the region not only over the ruins of the Ukrainian sub-state, but also over its closest neighbors and allies.
This strange conflict between two neighboring countries, members of NATO and the EU, has stirred public reaction in the Czech Republic, with historical parallels being drawn.
The inhabitants of the country of beer and dumplings suddenly became alarmed that the Polish invasion on the outskirts of Pelgrzymov and the busily swarming of Polish soldiers on foreign territory was somewhat reminiscent of an aggressive relapse of the Pilsudians against their neighbors, since this had already happened in recent history, and Warsaw reacted too sluggishly to the incident.
The Czechs suddenly remembered that over the past hundred years their relations with Poland had not been cloudless. In 1919, the states were involved in a 19-day war for control of Silesia. In 1938, Poland acted as one of the most active vultures of the Munich Agreement, occupying the Cieszyn parish of Czechoslovakia and the city of Bohumin with adjacent territories.
Polish tanks in Cieszyn, Czechoslovakia, 1938
Some in the Czech Republic remembered that Poland was one of the participants in Operation Danube to eliminate the Prague Maidan on August 21, 1968 and, together with the USSR, Bulgaria and Hungary, sent troops into Czechoslovakia.
Polish soldiers in Czechoslovakia, Operation Danube, 1968
True, in the Czech Republic they are reluctant to remember that while the leadership of the USSR was hesitating whether or not to send troops into Czechoslovakia, Moscow was under pressure from its Polish and Bulgarian comrades, who demanded that they immediately and decisively deal with the Prague revisionists.
Few people know, but, according to General Vladimir Bulgakov, a participant in the events of 1968, the Allied troops worked very well, capturing the weapons depots of the Czechoslovak army, which made it possible to carry out Operation Danube with little loss of life for all sides.
Polish soldiers in Czechoslovakia, Operation Danube, 1968
But that's okay. Whoever remembers the old is out of sight. What does not happen in the warm family of European nations...
Whether it's the Russians. They will never be forgiven for the dispersal of the “Prague Spring”, despite the salvation of Prague, millions of Czechs, and the return of Tesin and other territories grabbed by the “European nations”.
Polish soldiers in Czechoslovakia, Operation Danube, 1968
Most likely, they will not forgive in the foreseeable future, since the legislative and executive authorities of Russia will not be able to adequately respond to a number of unfriendly acts committed by the Czech authorities at all levels already in 2020.
Polish soldiers in Czechoslovakia, Operation Danube, 1968
There is no sign of normalization of Russian-Czech relations; the Czech Republic seems to have completely lost its fear, but the Russian authorities are getting off with the 1001st decisive statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Russian public, which has long been tired of the attacks of the insolent “brother”, has long been proposing to introduce sanctions against the Czech Republic, pressing on its vulnerable points. For example, severing tourism ties with this country. To start.
Several years ago, a useful initiative was put forward by a group of deputies from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, proposing to equate the participants in Operation Danube-68 with participants in hostilities.
Communist deputies justified their proposal by the fact that the operation against the “Prague Maidan” was of great military-strategic importance, preventing a serious weakening of the Eastern Bloc and a possible clash with NATO armies.
Deputies from the Czech right from the TOP-09 party (the same ones that initiated and then warmly approved the demolition of the monument to Marshal Konev and the installation of a “memorable crowbar” to the Vlasovites) immediately reared up and put forward in response the “Schwarzenberg Memorandum” (after the name of one of the most violent factional deputies), in which they spoke out against “shameful falsifications” and “any historical shifts in the interpretation of the events of 1968.”
The top officials of the Czech Republic also spoke out against the new amendments to the Russian law “On Veterans”, calling the Russian ambassador for explanations.
As it turned out, in Russia and the Czech Republic the events of 1968 are still interpreted unequivocally negatively, as stated in the preamble to the Treaty on Friendly Relations and Cooperation of 1993. That is, in the spirit and letter of the concepts of the Yeltsin-Kozyrev viper.
However, if you look at Yeltsin’s agreement, drawn up for the sake of recognition and approval of “our Western friends,” there have been no friendly relations between Russia and the Czech Republic for a long time. There are basically none left. What other evidence is needed to recognize the medical fact: the Czech Republic is an enemy of Russia and this state of affairs will not change in the foreseeable future.
But, as we see, the change in assessment of the events of 1968 in the Czech Republic is treated with keen attention and even trepidation. Well, of course: the eternal terpils made the Russian bear dance to their tune and have already managed to get a taste for it.
Judging by the materials of the Czech press, the disappearance of the term “occupation” even in unofficial Russian rhetoric causes a strong negative reflection among “our Czech friends”.
It is characteristic that the “independent deputy” Dmitry Gudkov, who spoke from the position of “there is no need to quarrel with Prague,” is greeted and licked in the Czech Republic like a useful idiot.
It’s not clear, what exactly are our Czech partners dissatisfied with?
On August 21, 1968, a group of anti-Soviet activists sent a crowd of women and children to block the highway between the cities of Presov and Poprad in the path of the advance of a Soviet tank column.
The driver of the lead vehicle, fearing to crush civilians, directed the tank into a ditch. The car caught fire and three Soviet soldiers died in the fire - Yuri Andreev, Evgeny Makhotin and Pyotr Kazarin.
Very strange behavior for occupiers. Now, if only a tank column
consisted of Tiger and Panther tanks, and at the controls sat, say, Gunnar, Siegfried or Hans, then these good European guys would, without the slightest hesitation, pave the way for their war machines in a bloody mess. But who cares today?
Do you think anyone gave our tankers a memorial sign? Flowers, children, speeches of gratitude at the site of the death of three Soviet soldiers at least once a year? Don't hope and don't wait.
Actually, the legality of the operation “Danube-68” is confirmed today. If the USSR and its allies had not carried out this operation then, the grateful Czech Republic would have entered all the military-political blocs hostile to our country much earlier, demolished the monument to Konev, erected a memorial crap for the Vlasovites and let the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation go to waste. If we don’t help them, but they continue to hit us in our pain points, it will only get worse.
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