Czech President: It is unfair for West to pressure Ukraine to liberate all occupied territories, we don't recognize them as Russian
Czech President Petr Pavel believes that Ukraine will not be able to liberate the currently occupied territories in the near future even with maximum support from partner countries and that the economic situation will stimulate residents to move from there to government-controlled territories, while suggesting the resumption of economic cooperation with Russia after the ceasefire.
"Right now, Ukraine, with all Western Support, is not in a position to liberate occupied territories in a short time frame without a significant cost to lives. And of course, it will be very unfair from the West to push Ukraine to liberate all occupied territories right now, because we don’t want to exterminate the Ukrainian nation. We want them to survive as an independent sovereign country. And if there is a cost to renewing Ukraine as an independent autonomous state, if the cost is to accept that part of the territory will be temporarily occupied, without recognising it legally, then so be it," Pavel said in an interview with the BBC published on Monday.
However, he claims that "we will never recognise these occupied territories as legally Russian."
"If there is a price for restoring Ukraine as an independent state, if the price is to accept that part of the territory will be temporarily occupied without its legal recognition, then let it be so," the Czech president said, referring to other examples in the world and noting that the Czech Republic itself remained under occupation for 22 years.
He said there are steps and measures that they can take together with Ukraine. If they manage to restore Ukraine's sovereignty over the maximum part of its territory together with Ukraine, if they manage to accept Ukraine into the European Union, rebuild Ukraine after the war, gradually bring them into the single European market, and raise the standard of living in Ukraine, then this will be a good signal for the people living in these occupied territories. And they will be much better off in Ukraine than in Russia, he added.
In this context, the Czech President stated that the occupied regions are a burden for Russia and the occupying authorities do not care about the local population. When asked whether the Russian Federation will allow people to leave the occupied territories, Pavel replied that sooner or later. Who knows? When asked under what circumstances, he added: Do you know what regime will be in Russia in 20, 30 years? Vladimir Putin will not be there forever.
Pavel claims that currently there is no available tool to oust Russia from the occupied Ukrainian territories without causing many victims and destruction. The head of stated added it is difficult to defeat a country with such a huge military potential and human potential as Russia, especially if such a country is supported by another huge and economically powerful country like China.
Asked whether he did not believe that accepting such a status quo or these concessions would be a de facto agreement with the aggressor's terms, the Czech president replied obviously, if you look at it from the point of view of elementary human justice or even international law, it is extremely difficult to accept, but we also live in reality. What alternatives does Czech Republic have with Ukraine? Will Czech Republic fights with Russia endlessly? Such an approach will definitely lead to much more loss of life for all of us and cause extreme damage to our economies, he believes.
Pavel said he believes in the power of negotiations, but negotiations require at least two people. At the moment, Russia does not want to negotiate. They want to impose conditions that are unacceptable to partners, and they only want to benefit from this process. They do not recognize the word compromise. They simply want to win. He added in his opinion sooner or later, if they manage to sit down with Russia at the negotiating table, they will be able to open up other issues that are quite burning for both European citizens and Russians. And this is the European security architecture, the Czech president said.
In his opinion, they should start by bringing Russia to the negotiating table, agreeing on a ceasefire, and then agreeing on a peaceful settlement. He also suggested the possibility of economic cooperation between the EU countries and Russia in such a case. He said once they reach a peaceful settlement, they can start rebuilding Ukraine and, perhaps, based on the Russian approach, also bring Russia back to the negotiating table when it comes to a security agreement in Europe or any cooperation or business with Russia that they had in the past. But the main prerequisite for all of this is peace in Ukraine, Pavel said.
