Russia asks Czech Republic for approval for arms supplies to Ukraine: Prague has already decided – New Time

Russia warned the Czech Republic in a note that it could not provide former Soviet equipment to third countries without its consent. This was announced on Saturday by the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Ján Lipavský, according to whom, however, this is nonsense and the Czech Ministry will not react to the note. The news portal iDNES.cz informs about it. Lipavsky stated that there was no “re-export clause” for such material and that it was a nonsense on the part of Russia. His words for the iDNES.cz portal were also confirmed by Lenka Do, a spokeswoman for the diplomacy department. “We did not respond to the note because it is nonsense,” she added. Russia this week, through a diplomatic note, formally warned the United States and other Western nations that their arms supplies to Ukraine were fueling the conflict there and could have “unpredictable consequences.” Minister Lipavský stated that the Russian note against the Czech Republic represents another way in which Russia falsely demands that Czech support for Ukraine be stopped. However, according to him, military and other aid to Ukraine is clearly in the strategic interest of the Czech Republic. “At the beginning of March, the Russian ambassador informed the Czech Deputy Foreign Minister that Russia expects terrorist attacks on convoys with Western weapons in Ukraine. We clearly interpret this as a threat that Russia itself was preparing and is preparing sabotage actions,” Lipavsky said. According to him, other EU and NATO member states also received similar references from the Russians. The Czech minister added that Russia has been trying to dissuade EU and NATO countries from helping Ukraine since the beginning of its aggression. The Czech Republic provides Ukraine with weapons and other military material. As of April 6, the total value of material donated by the Czech Republic to Ukraine was 1.1 billion Czech crowns (45 million euros). However, for security reasons, the Czech Ministry of Defense no longer states what specific military material it sends to Ukraine. According to the Echo24.cz server, the Czech Republic also sent Dana self-propelled howitzers and RM-70 Grad salvo rocket launchers of Czechoslovak production to Ukraine. The Wall Street Journal wrote last Tuesday that the Czech Republic had sent more than a dozen modernized Soviet T-72M tanks to Ukraine.