Czech MFA may summon Ukrainian ambassador over reaction to Okamura’s controversial speech

Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka will summon Ukraine’s ambassador Vasyl Zvarych, to explain his reaction to the New Year’s address by Tomio Okamura, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.

This was stated on Sunday by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Alena Schillerová during a broadcast on CNN Prima NEWS.

“Foreign Minister Petr Macinka authorized me to announce here that he will summon the ambassador over his statements. The ambassador’s reaction was, at the very least, inappropriate,” Schillerová said during the discussion program.

In her view, the Ukrainian diplomat expressed himself “more emotionally than was appropriate.”

At the same time, the Deputy Prime Minister reminded viewers that the Czech Republic has taken in the largest number of Ukrainian refugees per capita.

“I would expect a bit more modesty from the Ukrainian side, because we have accepted the most refugees per capita,” she said.

Schillerová did not distance herself from Okamura’s remarks, although she acknowledged that she herself would never have used such strong language. She also did not rule out that the situation could be discussed at a coalition meeting.

Read also: Petr Pavel to discuss anti-Ukrainian statement by Speaker Okamura with Czech government

As reported earlier, in his New Year’s speech Okamura sharply criticized Ukraine and President Volodymyr Zelensky, and also expressed the wish that the country would never become a member of the European Union. The remarks prompted reactions from Speaker of Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk, Ukraine’s ambassador to the Czech Republic Vasyl Zvarych, and Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha.

In particular, Ambassador Zvarych stated that the “offensive and hate-filled statements by Tomio Okamura toward Ukraine and Ukrainians … are regarded by us as his personal position, apparently shaped under the influence of Russian propaganda.”

In the Czech Republic, opposition factions in the Chamber of Deputies have begun collecting signatures to remove Okamura, who is the leader of the nationalist Freedom and Direct Democracy party.