Okamura not to succeed in cutting Ukraine aid, says Czech Senate Speaker
This view was expressed in an interview with Ukrinform by the Speaker of the Senate of the Czech Republic, Miloš Vystrčil.
The Senate Speaker noted that the issue lies in the domestic political situation in the Czech Republic that emerged after the October 2025 elections. In his view, it is not that support for Ukraine has significantly diminished, but rather that politicians in the current ruling coalition who under other circumstances would have criticized, for example, the anti-Ukrainian statements of the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of parliament), Tomio Okamura, and other representatives of nationalist parties, are now refraining from speaking out loudly. This is because the ANO movement of the Prime Minister wants to govern the country, but can do so only with the support of two other parties.
“There is only one problem – domestic politics. Resistance among deputies of the ruling coalition to what Okamura or someone else says is not as strong, because the government, including Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO), depends on each of the three members of the coalition, and on how SPD (Freedom and Direct Democracy) or the Motorists vote,” the Senate Speaker explained.
He noted that people who have held such views before are now in charge of the Chamber of Deputies, but today they simply have a much stronger voice and can “blackmail” the ruling party.
At the same time, the senator is confident that Okamura, who has threatened to push for an end to any assistance to Ukraine, will not succeed, and that support for Ukraine from the Czech Republic will not stop. However, the politician does not rule out that, for domestic political reasons, this support may become less intensive.
“Everyone in the Czech Republic understands that if we were to stop supplying weapons to Ukraine, we would not be supporting peace, but Ukraine’s capitulation. Everyone understands that our duty, including that of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, is to support a state that has been attacked, whose territory is being seized and whose people are being killed. And I also believe it is clear to us that when Ukraine is defending itself against the aggressor, it is also defending us and fighting for our security,” Vystrčil stressed.
As reported, the leader of the far-right nationalist party Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), Tomio Okamura, was elected Speaker of the lower house of parliament for the first time after the ANO party of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, which won the elections, was forced to seek coalition partners. Okamura has consistently spoken out against military aid to Ukraine and in favor of reducing support for Ukrainian refugees, whom the Czech Republic has taken in in the largest number relative to its population since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
