Anti-Ukrainian remarks by Czech parliament speaker boost donations from Czechs for Ukraine's Armed Forces
Anti-Ukrainian remarks made in the New Year address by Tomio Okamura, the speaker of the lower house of the Czech parliament, have led to a significant increase in donations by Czechs for weapons for Ukrainian troops.
The Dárek pro Putina initiative ("A Gift for Putin") regularly raises funds to purchase equipment and ammunition for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Martin Ondráček, leader of the Czech initiative Dárek pro Putina, said in a comment to Ukrinform that donations began to rise following Okamura's New Year speech.
The initiative's leader said that Okamura had published his speech on the morning of 1 January and that CZK 780,000 (almost €26,500) had been received that day. He added that donations totalled CZK 954,000 (€32,350) on 2 January, describing these sums as extraordinarily high, especially given that it was still the Christmas holiday period and that many people had already donated in December as gifts.
He compared this with donation levels on the first two days of last year, which stood at CZK 162,000 (around €6,680) and 191,000 (€7,880) respectively. Ondráček noted that this is not the first time such a pattern has emerged: donations tend to rise whenever insults or threats are aimed at Ukraine.
Tomio Okamura used his New Year address to oppose support for Ukraine, referring to the country's government as "Zelenskyy junta".
Following this, Vasyl Zvarych, Ukraine's ambassador to Czechia, said that Okamura's recent remarks about Ukraine, Ukrainians and the Ukrainian leadership reflected Russian propaganda and were unacceptable.
Czech Foreign Minister Petr Macinka called the ambassador's comments inappropriate, while Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said Zvarych had breached diplomatic etiquette.
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha rejected the criticism from his Czech counterpart and defended Zvarych.
On 6 January, Sybiha said that during a conversation with Macinka, they had agreed to "turn the page" after the controversy involving Okamura.