The Mayor of Prague 6: We must punish Russia itself, it is not just private individuals
The government should resolve the dispute over the Russian school in Bubeneč, Prague. Prague 6 would like to provide facilities for Ukrainian children. How does he want to achieve this?
Hostem I’m asking is the mayor of Prague 6 and the deputy of TOP 09 Ondřej Kolář. (Warning: There were vulgar expressions in the live broadcast.)
The dispute over one school in Bubeneč, Prague, reached the government level. The building belongs to the Russian embassy and has been empty since last year, when a number of embassy staff had to leave the country. The “cleaning of the embassy” followed the revelation that agents of the Russian secret service were behind the attack in Vrbětice.
The deputy and mayor of the sixth part of Prague, Ondřej Kolář, proposes that the school be opened to Ukrainian pupils and students. He addressed the Russian ambassador because of this – and, as expected, without success.
However, the Czech Foreign Ministry did not catch the idea at all. Pirates Minister Jan Lipavsky to ensure that the school cannot be used without the consent of the Russian embassy. The Czechia would reportedly repeal international law. The Prague City Hall therefore wants to call on the government to draft a law that would limit the property rights of the Russian embassy.
Is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs really coming up with reasons why the idea cannot be implemented? Or are we already watching the start of the campaign before the autumn municipal elections, which will not be avoided in Prague?
You can play the whole conversation in the audio player, in your favorite podcast application or in the video.
What was said in the interview?
1:00 – We managed to open the topic at a meeting of the Prague City Council, which expressed our efforts in a resolution. This resolution requires the government to pass a law restricting the property rights of the Russian Federation. But I can imagine other ways.
2:13 – The Baltic European states want to open this issue on Union soil, they want European states to adopt something like a “lex Putin” that has made it possible to reach Russian state property as well. We have imposed quite harsh sanctions on Russian private or legal persons, but that is not all. Russia is waging the war for which I am doing all this. We must say that we must punish Russia as such. Either they confiscate the property straight away, which I would see as the most extreme option, or to get the property to do what it is supposed to do, and this can be achieved, for example, by restricting property rights or imposing forced administration.
3:40 – The Czechia would not stop being the rule of law. Russia is an aggressor and treats us as a hostile state.
I’m asking
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