Thread by @_JakubJanda

THREAD:

THE CZECH RESISTANCE TO RUSSIAN AND CHINESE PRESSURE:

Right now, the resistance to Russian and Chinese interference is led on the political level by two local politicians in Prague.

Her their brave stories:

On China: Mayor of Prague @ZdenekHrib wants Beijing to cut out "one China policy" statement from bilateral agreement between two cities.

He says that it is up to the Foreign Ministries and cities on local level should not be dealing with such issues. He also visited Taiwan.

China is so upset with the Prague Mayor that it unilaterally blocks and cooperation with Czech entities with"Prague" in their names.

Already three Czech musical bands were banned from China.

Chinese ambassador in Prague yells at Czech entities for months.

Czech diplomats now assess (as @enkocz reports) that China uses "harassment, intimidation and punishment" aganist Czech Republic.

Even Czech Culture Minister, who spent last years opening Czech policy to China as Foreign Minister, is hugely disappointed.

"He (Chinese Ambassador to Prague) has totally destroyed the image of China, he blew everything we agreed on.."

"How can you build trust with (Chinese) Ambassador who lies to your face?"

- that is how current Czech Culture Minister L. Zaorálek sees current Chinese diplomacy

Effectivelly, Chinese diplomacy has burnt its most loyal proxies in Czech politics.

Minister Zaorálek was one of the most pro-Chinese politicians over last five years.

If China operated as a normal state, it would recall its envoy right away.

On Russia: In 1980, Czechoslovakia was occupied by Soviet Union. Statue of (Soviet) marshal Ivan Koněv was built in Prague 6 to push the Soviet narrative "we liberated you from Nazis so shut up".

Last year, some argued aganist this statue, it was painted pink on protest.

In August 2018, Prague 6 City Council added descriptive texts around the statue, explaining that (Soviet) marshal Žukov led murders of thousands of Hungarians in 1956, organized Berlin Wall build-up or helped with 1968 occupation of Czechoslovakia. All true.

Russia protested.

As another protest managed to paint the statue with red color (like blood) this year, Prague 6 decided to cover the statue to stop the vandalism.

That triggered mobilization of Russian proxies in the Czech Republic, Russian Embassy protested heavily.

Russian Culture Minister linked Mayor of Prague 6 @OndrejKolar6 to "leader of local NSDAP (nazi) party)".

Prague 6 City Council held vote today, agreeing to take the Soviet statue out and put it into a museum.

Now, voices in Russian national politics are calling Czech Republic out. Some argue for "economic sanctions aganist Czech Republic", we can expect more.

Russia made bilateral relations with Czech Republic deeply toxic and it is not going to change soon.