I don’t care what the ambassador thinks, the Russian school will roll, says the mayor
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Since last year, when the Czech Republic expelled most Russian diplomats in connection with the Vrbětice explosion, it has orphaned a Russian school run by the embassy for the children of its workers and compatriots. The mayor of Prague 6 and MP Ondřej Kolář (TOP 09) are therefore now proposing their use for children who had to flee Ukraine with their mothers after Russia started a war on its territory.
He therefore addressed a letter to the Russian ambassador, urging him to make the school accessible to Ukrainian children. The embassy reacted to his words so that the school building is the property of the Russian Federation. “Issues of property use do not fall within the competence of the mayor of Prague 6.”
This angered the mayor and therefore began to deal with the school with the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “I don’t care what the Russian ambassador thinks about my competencies. His country caused a huge humanitarian catastrophe and was condemned in The Hague. It is my responsibility to secure places in schools for the children whose compatriots wanted to kill. He will simply roll over the school, “Kolář leaned into the Russian side a few days ago on Twitter.
Then I addressed the Russian ambassador, calling on the ministry to help with the Prague 6 problem. He allegedly did not receive an answer yet.
Kolář has now said for the News List that there is a need to put concentrated pressure on Russia and find a way for the school to take it regularly. “I do not see the Russian side’s willingness to reach an agreement with us, but we simply have to act. We can’t leave the house empty here when Prague is bursting at the seams, “he said. In his home, Prague 6 alone, the lack of capacity in schools allegedly affects about a thousand Ukrainian children who fled there before the war.
The Czech house is empty, there are problems with it, its operation costs a lot of money. There is almost no one in it anymore, so let the ministry exchange it for the school.
“I really don’t know where we’re going to put them, we don’t have the capacity. Prague does not have the capacity, other regions are not much better. And here is a barracks built by the Czech side. The investor was the capital city of Prague in the 1970s, and then it turned out in style: Oh, dear Soviet Union, here is another ninth gift from us, do what you want with it. And that barracks now does not serve the purpose for which it was built. It is not possible to just say that it is not possible. Everything goes when you want, “he added.
According to him, the Bubeneč complex belongs to bilateral agreements from the 1970s, when the then Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union handed over buildings in their capitals. The treaties were taken over by the successor countries, ie the Czech Republic and Russia.
At the level of a Russian school in Prague, for example, the Czech House in Moscow is needed. “The Czech house is empty, there are just problems with it, its operation costs a lot of money. There is almost no one in it anymore, so let the ministry exchange it for the school, “he suggests.
However, according to Lenka Spokeswoman Lenka Do, expropriation of Russian real estate in Prague is not practically possible because they are protected by international law. “Should an attempt at expropriation take place, the Czech Republic must count on reciprocal action against its assets in the Russian Federation,” she said.
She added that the issue of using Russian real estate is a long-term and complex problem. Under the 1979 agreement, land under Russian buildings is provided to the other party for “permanent and free use”.
The Russian embassy in Prague also asked for a list of reports. This did not respond to the email you sent.
Mayor Kolář has had disagreements with the embassy of the Russian Federation for a long time. He got into Russia’s search engine two years ago, when the town hall he led had the statue of Marshal Ivan Stepanovich Konev removed from Interbrigade Square.
Update: We have corrected the incorrect location of the school in the article.