Prague wants to maintain "at least elementary" diplomatic relations with Moscow due to many practical reasons, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Saturday
PRAGUE (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th March, 2022) Prague wants to maintain "at least elementary" diplomatic relations with Moscow due to many practical reasons, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Saturday.
"Fourteen Russian diplomats have already left the Czech Republic, and there is already no room for further reduction (of the number of Russian diplomats in the Czech Republic), provided that we want to maintain at least elementary diplomatic relations with Russia, which is necessary for many practical reasons. And in the current difficult situation, it is necessary to maintain at least a minimum level of communication between the countries," Lipavsky said during a briefing.
On February 24, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk appealed for help in defending themselves against Ukrainian forces. On the same day, the Czech Republic suspended the issuance of visas to Russian citizens, except for humanitarian cases and decided to close Russian consulates in Brno and Karlovy Vary over the situation in Ukraine. In response, Russian diplomatic personnel left the Czech Republic.
