Comment by the Foreign Ministry Information and Press Department on the unfriendly move by the Czech authorities

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Bilateral relations

Russian-Czech relations

Diplomatic relations between Russia and the Czech Republic were established on January 1, 1993 (diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia were established on June 9, 1934). In addition to embassies in Moscow and Prague, Russia has general consulates in Brno and Karlovy Vary and the Czech Republic has general consulates in St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.

On August 26, 1993, Russia and the Czech Republic signed the Treaty of Friendly Relations and Cooperation. The legal framework of bilateral relations includes some 80 interstate, intergovernmental and interagency documents.

Bilateral relations developed actively until 2014, with Russia and the Czech Republic maintaining active political dialogue, primarily at the top level. The Czech authorities declared their intention to promote stable relations with Russia based on the principles of pragmatic and mutually beneficial cooperation. However, when Russia-West relations soured over the Ukrainian crisis, the Czech authorities curtailed political contacts and mechanisms for economic cooperation with Russia, and also joined the EU sanctions imposed against certain individuals in the Russian political establishment as well as the business community. Russia and the Czech Republic only maintain political dialogue at the level of their heads of state, parliaments, governments and agencies.

Russian-Czech trade and economic cooperation was developing positively until 2014, when the EU sanctions, Russian counter-sanctions and falling energy prices had a negative impact on bilateral economic ties. Trade decreased by 11 per cent as compared with 2013 dropping to $10.06 billion. This negative trend continued in 2015, when bilateral trade plummeted by 39.3 per cent to $6.1 billion. In 2016, bilateral trade fell by another 10.6 per cent going down to $5.46 billion. In this context, Russian exports to the Czech Republic plunged by 17.4 per cent to $2.69 billion, while imports from the Czech Republic decreased by 2.8 per cent to $2.77 billion. Bilateral trade saw a positive change in the first six months of 2017, increasing by 44.3 per cent to $3.42 billion. Russian exports soared by 73.7 per cent to $1.94 billion, and imports from the Czech Republic increased by 18 per cent to $1.48 billion.

A major tool for the promotion of mutually beneficial cooperation is the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Industrial, Scientific and Technical Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Czech Republic (IGC), which convened for its 10th meeting in Moscow on May 29-30, 2017.

During the official visit by the President of Russia to the Czech Republic on December 8, 2011, the sides signed the Joint Statement on Partnership for Modernization. In 2012, this statement was used as the basis for a list of practical bilateral projects in energy, research and technology, investment and innovations-based cooperation, as well as in industry, transport, agriculture and tourism. These projects are being implemented. The working groups of the Intergovernmental Commission meet regularly.

Bilateral cultural exchanges have remained intense. The 2011 cooperation programme signed between the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic for 2012-2015 has been implemented. Under this programme, the Chekhov Moscow Art Theatre gave guest performances in Prague in 2013, while the Czech National Theatre brought their productions to Moscow. Other Russian theatres toured the Czech Republic, and large Russian exhibitions were shown in the Czech Republic. Monuments to Alexander Pushkin and Yuri Gagarin were unveiled in Prague. Russian performers and groups participated in international festivals of classical music in the Czech Republic. The Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow gave a concert in Prague Castle under the patronage of President Milos Zeman on the occasion of Victory Day. The Alexandrov Song and Dance Ensemble, which often tours the Czech Republic, invariably performs to a packed hall. Russian and Czech filmmakers maintain active cooperation.

The sides have created the necessary basis for scientific and student exchanges. Their education ministries have signed an agreement on cooperation in education and science. Direct ties between Russian and Czech universities are developing rapidly. For example, Charles University and Czech Technical University in Prague have signed agreements with Moscow State University, St. Petersburg State University, Moscow State Pedagogical University, as well as with a number of department of some Russian universities.

Scientific cooperation is supervised by the Russian and Czech academies of sciences. In February and March 2016, Prague hosted a regular meeting of the Russian-Czech Commission of Historians and Archivists.

The interest in the Russian language, which is taught at many schools, colleges and universities, is growing in the Czech Republic. The Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Prague and its language course are playing a major role in the promotion of the Russian language. The Russkiy Mir Foundation has opened Russian Centres at Masaryk University in Brno and University of West Bohemia in Plzen. The České asociace rusistů (Czech Association of Teachers of Russian) actively contributes to the national Russian language contest titled ARS Poetica. The Pushkin Monument.

Ethnic Russians, who live in the Czech Republic and have been officially recognized as a national minority, make an important contribution to the human dimension of Russian-Czech relations. They have created some 30 organisations and in 2008 they established the Compatriots Coordination Centre. There are about a dozen Russian language publications, such as the newspapers Inform Praga and Prazhsky Telegraf, as well as magazines Chekhia Panorama, Cheshsky Dom, Prazhsky Parnas, and others. The mission of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Czech Republic and the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia hold various religious and educational events.

the Czech Republic

CZECH REPUBLIC

General information: The Czech Republic is a state in Central Europe that borders on Germany in the west and northwest, Slovakia in the southeast, Austria in the south and Poland in the northeast.

Area: 78,864 square kilometres.

Capital: Prague (1.3 million).

The national flag consists of two bands (an upper white and a lower red) with a blue wedge between them. The emblem is a shield divided into four squares. Two squares depict a lion that is a symbol of Czech lands, and the other two symbolise the historical territories of the modern Czech Republic – red and silver Moravian and black Silesian female eagles. The national anthem is the first line of the verse “Where is my homeland?” by Jozef Kajetan Tyl to the music of Frantisek Skroup.

Administrative division: The Czech Republic consists of 13 regions. The capital is the 14^th region with relevant rights. Its administration is determined by a special law.

National holidays: Independent Czechoslovak State Day (October 28, 1918); May 8 – Liberation Day (1945); January 1 –Day of the Restoration of the Independent Czech State (1993); July 5 – Day of Slavic Saints Cyril and Methodius; July 6 – Jan Hus Day (when he was burned in 1415); September 28 –Day of Czech Statehood (in memory of St Vaclav, the country’s patron saint) and November 17, Struggle for Freedom and Democracy Day (1989).

Official language: Czech (belongs to the West Slavic language group).

Currency: Czech koruna (in May 2017 24.6 korunas equaled one dollar and 26.9 korunas one euro).

History: In the fifth and sixth centuries the current territory of the Czech Republic was inhabited by West Slavic tribes that replaced Germans and Celts who had lived there before. The Great Moravian and the Czech Duchies were established in the ninth century and formed the Czech Kingdom as part of the Holy Roman Empire (the Czech king became one of its prince electors) in the 11^th -12^th centuries. The state was the strongest during the rule of King Premysl Otakar II (1253-78) who conquered lands from the Baltic to the Adriatic Sea. It reached its heyday in the middle of the 14^th century during the reign of King and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg.

Religious strife that expressed itself in the Hussite wars (1420-34) and dynastic enmity gradually led to a decline of the lands of the Czech Crown (with the exception of the bright period of the rule of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph II in the late 16^{th –}early 17^th century, who resided in Prague. After the defeat of Czech volunteers by the imperial army at the White Mountain in 1620, Czech lands that were devastated during the 30 year-long war lost their independence and were incorporated by the Habsburg Empire for almost 300 years. Since the middle of the 19^th century they were its most industrialised part.

The disintegration of Austria-Hungary on October 28, 1918 led to the formation of the independent Czechoslovak Republic that included the modern Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine’s Trans-Carpathian region. Thomas Masaryk who returned from US emigration became its first president. In 1935 he was replaced by Edvard Benes who had been foreign minister since 1918.

In October 1938, Germany annexed the Czech border areas that were inhabited predominantly by Germans (Sudetenland) on the basis of the Munich Agreement. In March 1939 the rest of the country was occupied and proclaimed to be the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The Soviet Union played a decisive role in liberating Czech lands between April-May 1945, while the American troops freed the country’s western border areas.

The victory over Nazism led to the restoration of the Czechoslovak statehood. The anti-Nazi parties formed the National Front Government. Edvard Benes was again elected President. He signed executive orders on the deportation of almost all Germans and also many Hungarians. As a result of the domestic political crisis in February 1948 he had to yield his post to Chairman of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (CPC) Klement Gottwald. Having monopolised the power, it proclaimed a course towards the construction of socialism.

The movement for democratisation that started in the middle 1960s under the leadership of First Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Alexander Dubček (the so-called Prague Spring) was ended on August 21, 1968 by the introduction of the troops of the Warsaw Treaty (the USSR, the GDR, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria). In October 1968 the state was turned into a federation. One of the two parts became the Czech Socialist Republic. In April 1969 the CPC Central Committee was headed by Gustav Husak, who headed it until 1987 and was the country’s President from 1975 to 1989.

A new upsurge of public and political activities aimed at the radical change in the foundation of the system was followed by a velvet revolution in 1989, as a result of which the CPC was removed from power. The parliamentary elections in 1990 brought the Civic Forum to power in the Czech Republic and Public Against Violence in Slovakia, which dismantled the former system.

The mounting centrifugal trends ended in a civilised division of the country into two parts.

On January 1, 1993 the Czech Republic became an independent state. On January 26, 1993 Vaclav Havel was elected its President and between 1989-1992 he was the President of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic, while the Government was headed by Vaclav Klaus, the leader of the liberal-conservative co-founder of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) that won the parliamentary elections in July 1992.

The ODS Government headed by Klaus stayed in power until its resignation in November 1997 as a result of a corruption scandal. After the parliamentary elections in 1998, coalition governments headed by Social Democrats Milos Zeman, Vladimir Spidla, Stanislav Gross and Jiri Paroubek replaced one another during a period of eight years. The ODS won the parliamentary elections in June 2006 and formed a coalition right-wing-centre Government in alliance with the Christian Democrats and the Greens headed by ODS leader Mirek Topolanek, which was compelled to resign in March 2009. The so-called caretaker Government headed by Jan Fischer was in power between June 2009 and July 2010. Regular parliamentary elections were held in the Czech Republic on May 28-29, 2010. Following the elections a right-wing-centre coalition of the ODS, Top 09 and Public Affairs. The new Government was headed by ODS leader Petr Necas.

Milos Zeman won by a national vote the second round of the first direct presidential elections in the history of the Czech Republic on January 26, 2013 (formerly the leader of the Czech Social-Democratic Party and Czech Prime Minister in 1998-2002).

As a result of the corruption scandal in June 2013 the Necas Government had to resign before the end of its term. On June 25, 2013 the Czech President instructed Jiri Rusnok to form a caretaker Government and endorsed it on July 10, 2013 but the Chamber of Deputies refused credence to this Government on August 7, 2013. Nonetheless, the Government continued to perform its duties.

Based on the results of the early parliamentary elections on October 25-26, 2013 that were formally won by the Czech Social Democratic Party, President Zeman instructed its leader Bohuslav Sobotka to form a cabinet of ministers. A new Government was appointed on January 29, 2014. It was formed by the coalition of the Czech Social Democratic Party, the Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) and the Christian-Democratic Union, the Czechoslovak People’s Party. On February 18, 2014 Sobotka’s cabinet received a vote of confidence from the parliament.

Population: 10,562,000 (last 2011 census). The ethnic makeup is fairly homogeneous: over 95 per cent, Czechs and ethnically close Moravians (the latter’s status as a separate nation is disputed in the country), 1.5 per cent Slovakians, about one per cent Ukrainians, up to 0.5 per cent Poles and about 0.3 per cent Russians. The numerous prewar Germans and Jews now amount to no more than 0.2 per cent of the total. Between 150,000 to 400,000 are Gypsies and their social status is criticised by European and international human rights organisations. There is a stable trend towards the ageing of the population and a decline in its economically active part. Its growth is primarily achieved through the inflow of immigrants. In the past decade their number increased 2.6 times to reach 0.5 million. Experts predict a considerable growth in the number of immigrants in the Czech Republic in connection with a new wave of migrants from the Middle East and Ukraine.

Main Political Parties: Over 60 are registered in the Czech Republic. Today, the most influential of them are as follows:

The Czech Social Democratic Party (CSDP) – the left-of-centre formation that declares its continuity with the Czechoslovak Social Democratic Party that has existed since 1918 (in exile from 1948 to 1989). It has about 26,000 members.

The Action of Dissatisfied Citizens-2011 (ANO-2011) is a political project of Czech billionaire Andrei Babis, currently the Finance Minister of the Czech Republic. It positions itself as pro-European. Today it is establishing grass-roots structures.

The Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia emerged in 1990 on the basis of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. It is the largest in the country with about 60,000 members.

The Christian Democratic Union,the Czechoslovak People’s Party (KDU–CSL) is a right-of-centre party with long-standing historical traditions. It has about 30,000 members.

The Civic Democratic Party is a liberal-conservative party with about 23,000 members.

The TOP-09 party (Tradition, Responsibility, Prosperity) was set up in July 2009 as a result of a split in the Christian Democratic Party. It has about 4,000 members.

The Party of Civic Rights (SPO) is a left-of-centre social-democratic party founded by current Czech President Milos Zeman in 2009. It has about 3,000 members.

The Freedom and Direct Democracy political movement was founded by Deputy Tomio Okamura in 2015 after the disintegration of the Dawn of Direct Democracy (DDD). It aligns itself with the pro-presidential Party of Civic Rights. Its current electoral preferences do not exceed five per cent.

The Dawn – National Coalition party was headed by veteran of the NATO military mission in Afghanistan Miroslav Lidinsky. It was established after a split in the DDD. It claims the role of the integrator of the Czech nationalistic movements. Its current electoral preferences do not exceed two percent.

The Greens is a liberal-democratic party that concentrates on building a democratic and socially sustainable society together with protecting the environment. It has about 1,300 members.

The Mayors and Independents abbreviated to STAN is a political movement that lays emphasis on supporting regional development at the local administration level. In 2009 it grew from the Independent Mayors for Region movement established in 2004.

Political system: In accordance with the Constitution adopted on December 16, 1992, the head of state is the President elected for five years with restricted constitutional powers. Currently this post is occupied by Milos Zeman who won the regular elections in January 2013. These were the first direct presidential elections in national history. He was supported by 54.8 per cent of all voters. His inauguration took place on March 8, 2013.

Supreme legislative authority: The Parliament consists of two chambers: the Lower House or Chamber of Deputies and the Upper House or the Senate.

The Chamber of Deputies consists of 200 deputies elected on the basis of party ticket voting for four years.

The latest, early elections to the Chamber of Deputies took place on October 25-26, 2013. According to their results, the following parties and movements received representation in the Lower House: the Czech Social Democratic Party, (50 mandates); ANO-2011 (47); the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (33); TOP-09 (26); the Civic Democratic Party (16) and KDU–CSL (14). The split in the Dawn of Direct Democracy with 14 mandates in 2015 produced the Dawn National Coalition parliamentary party with eight mandates. The remaining six deputies are independent. Jan Hamacek of the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSDP) has been elected the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.

The Senate consists of 81 Senators that are elected for a term of six years. Importantly, every two years one third of the Senate is replaced and its Speaker is reelected. Elections to the Senate follow the majority election system where only one MP is to be elected per constituency. The latest elections of one third of the Senate were held in October 2016. Speaker of the Senate Milan Stech from the Czech Social Democratic Party was reelected at a by-election in October 2016.

The following parties are represented in the Senate in accordance with the election results: the Czech Social Democratic Party (25 seats); KDU–CSL and the Independents (19); the Civic Democratic Party (9); STAN (4), ANO-2011 (7); the Party of Civic Rights (2), the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (1), as well as independent Senators and representatives of other parties that are not members of parliamentary groups.

Executive authority: The Government accountable to the Chamber of Deputies is the highest government executive body. The President appoints the Prime Minister that forms the ruling cabinet as well as the ministers proposed by the Prime Minister. Following early parliamentary elections on October 25-26, 2013 President Zeman appointed Sobotka Prime Minister as the leader of the Social Democrats that formally won the elections. The CSDP, ANO and KDU-CSL coalition enjoys a majority in the Parliament.

Regular parliamentary elections will be held in the Czech Republic on October 20-21, 2017 following which a new Government will be formed.

Supreme legislative, monitoring and human rights authorities:

The Constitutional Court (President Pavel Rychetsky) monitors the correspondence of the laws and other normative acts to the current Constitution.

The Supreme Court (Chairman Pavel Samal) is the highest judiciary on inquiries into criminal and civilian cases.

The Supreme Administrative Court (Chairman Josef Baxa) monitors the activities of government agencies, observance of legal norms by political parties and public associations, and legitimacy of electoral procedures.

The Supreme Audit Chamber (Chairman Miloslav Kala).monitors management of government property and execution of the state budget.

The Highest State Representation (Prosecutor-General’s Office) exercises general control over compliance with laws in the country. Prosecutor-General – Pavel Zeman).

The Czech Republic also has a public defender of human rights (ombudsman).

All judicial and monitoring bodies, as well as the ombudsman’s office are located in Brno, the administrative centre of South Moravia.

Economy: The Czech Republic is an advanced industrial country with an export-oriented economy. Main industries are machine building and metalwork (car making, production of energy equipment, lathes and electrical technology), metallurgy (mostly ferrous), chemical production (primarily oil processing) and the food industry (with rich brewing traditions). Over 75 per cent of exports go to EU countries, primarily Germany that is the main trade partner.

The GDP growth is expected to reach about 1.9 per cent (a good indicator for the EU) in 2016. By the end of 2016 inflation stood at 0.7 per cent and the unemployment rate was 3.8 per cent. In 2016 the average salary grew to 27,220 korunas (slightly over one thousand euros). The 2016 budget was executed with a record surplus of 62 billion korunas ($2.5 billion).

In 2016 the Czech National Bank continued the policy of currency interventions aimed at keeping the exchange rate at 27 korunas for one euro. It decided to continue this policy in the first quarter of 2017.

Tourism: It plays a major role in the national economy. Tourist proceeds exceed three per cent of the country’s GNP. By tradition, Germans occupy the first place in the number of visiting tourists, while Russians being second are bringing the biggest revenues to the industry.

Twelve sites are on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The most popular tourist places are Prague and its suburbs, Cesky Krumlov and Karlovy Vary. Environmental and alpine tourism as well as biking are popular in specially protected areas, Bohemian Paradise, Sumava, the Krkonose and Beskid Mountains, to name a few. The country has a number of large health resorts specialising in the treatment and prevention of diseases of the digestive tract, the locomotor system, respiratory organs plus the cardio-vascular system. They are primarily located in the so-called resort triangle of the Western Czech Republic: Karlovy Vary, Marianske Lazne, Frantiskovy Lazne, as well as sanatoriums in Luhacovice, Darkov and Karlova Studanka in Eastern and Northern Moravia.

Research: It has long-standing historical traditions. Outstanding scientists, such as Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler, Gregor Johann Mendel, and Nikola Tesla, to name a few, worked on its territory at different times. The Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic was established in 1992 as a successor to the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences set up in 1952. It consists of 54 institutes that are divided into three research areas and nine sections. A multi-profile research centre, the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC) was established in Brno in 2011.

Education: Education is integrated into the EU system and includes three main levels: basic (from 6 to 15), secondary (up to 18) and higher (bachelor’s degree programme, master course and higher doctorate). Education is free (including higher education in the Czech language) and compulsory for teenagers of up to age 15). There are 73 universities and colleges, 28 public and 45 private. Charlese University in Prague is the oldest and largest educational institution. Other leading Czech universities include Czech Technical University in Prague, University of Economics in Prague, Masaryk University and University of Technology in Brno, Technical University of Ostrava as well as University of West Bohemia in Plzen.

Culture: The Czech Republic has rich cultural traditions. Numerous international festivals, reviews and contests are held there every year. It is enough to mention the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, the music fests Prague Spring and Janacek May Ostrava, the International Theatre Festival in Plzen and the Book World in Prague. Life and work of the world famous artists are linked with the Czech Republic. It is enough to mention composers Leos Janacek, Antonin Leopold Dvorak, and Bedrich Smetana, writers Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hasek, Bohumil Hrabal, Milan Kundera, painters Alphonse Mucha, Frantisek Kupka, Max Svabinsky, to name a few. Prague and Brno are the country’s main cultural centres that have the majority of theatres, museums, galleries, as well as the Philharmonic Society and the Academy of Arts. The National Theatre in Prague with opera, ballet and drama companies is well known throughout Europe.

Media: Main publications are newspapers Pravo, Lidove noviny, Mlada fronta DNES, Hospodarske noviny, Halo noviny and E15; weeklies, Tyden, Euro, Reflex and Respekt. The majority of the leading publications (with the exception of the newspapers Pravo and Halo noviny) belong to German and Swiss owners.

Online media: the public Czech television (three channels: CT1, CT2 and the round-the-clock CT24); commercial television channels Nova and Prima; Czech Radio (seven programmes) and the Czech News Agency (CTK).

Religion: One of the most secular countries in Europe. A recent 2011 census shows merely 13.9 per cent identified themselves with some religion.73.8 per cent belong to the Roman Catholic Church.

Among Protestants, the biggest number belongs to the Evangelical Church of Czech Brethren (3.5 per cent) and the Czechoslovak Hussite Church (2.6 per cent). The Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia has 1.4 per cent of believers.

Foreign policy: The Czech Republic maintains diplomatic relations with 126 countries and hosts 83 accredited foreign diplomatic missions. Since the disintegration of Czechoslovakia, the Czech Republic has become a member of the UN and the Council of Europe, a participant in the OSCE. In 1996, it was admitted into the OECD, joined NATO in 1999 and entered the EU in 2004. Since January 2008, the Czech Republic has been part of the Schengen zone.

The main priorities of Czech foreign policy are to take an active part in the Euro integration processes, promote trans-Atlantic ties, maintain friendly relations with its neighbours, take joint actions in the struggle against terrorism, enhance cooperation with international organisations, conduct economic diplomacy and human rights and humanitarian activities. The Czech Republic is solidary with the EU on the majority of urgent foreign policy matters.

Anthem

Czech Republic

Embassy of Russia in Prague

Address :: ul. Korunovační 36, Praha 6 - Bubeneč, Česká republika

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Phone :: +420 2 33-37-41-00
+420 2 33-37-15-48
Hotline :: +420 777 765 787
Telex:: (66) 122254 SSSR C
Fax: +420 2 33-37-72-35,
E-mail: embruscz@mid.ru
rusconscz@mid.ru
Web: https://czech.mid.ru/; Twitter; Facebook; Instagram

Czech Republic

Consular Division of the Russian Embassy in Prague

Address :: Korunovační 34, 16000 Praha 6, Bubeneč

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Phone :: +420 2 33-37-40-93; +420 2 33-37-15-48
Hotline :: +420 777 765 787
Fax: +420 2 33-37-14-92,
E-mail: rusconscz@mid.ru

Czech Republic

Embassy of Czech Republic

Address:: 123056, г. Москва, ул. Юлиуса Фучика, 12/14

Phone:: +7 495 276-07-03
+7 495 276-07-01; +7 495 276-07-23 (Приемная г. Посла); +7 495 276-07-21 (Политический отдел); +7 495 276-07-20 (Экономическо-торговый отдел); +7 495 276-07-05 (Военный отдел); +7 495 276-07-15 (Консульский отдел)
Fax: +7 499 250-15-23, +7 499 250-02-63 (Приемная г. Посла), +7 499 240-02-63 (Политический отдел), +7 499 251-25-27 (Экономическо-торговый отдел), +7 499 250-00-04 (Военный отдел), +7 499 791-29-82 (Консульский отдел)
E-mail: moscow@embassy.mzv.cz