Czechs celebrate 20th anniversary of Soviet troops' departure

Milovice, Central Bohemia, June 25 (CTK) - About 1000 people, including Czech Defence Minister Alexandr Vondra and other politicians and celebrities, attended a ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the Soviet troops' departure from Milovice Saturday.

Some 160,000 Soviet soldiers lived in Milovice following the 1968 Soviet led invasion in the country, according to local people, but official figures are not known.

Milovice were divided into two worlds that were forced to co-exist. One part was set for local inhabitants and a separate town served Soviet troops. They had their own hospital, shops, barracks, and regular flights to Moscow took off from Milovice, its deputy mayor Marcela Rihova said in her speech Saturday.

Milovice Mayor Lukas Pilc did not mention the past but he said barriers had been left in the town after the soldiers' departure. Even 20 years later, Milovice still does not have a dignified place for meetings.

The town plans to build a square within five years and celebrate the 25th anniversary of Soviet soldiers' withdrawal there, Pilc said.

Vondra (senior ruling Civic Democrats, ODS) recalled that when he and then Czechoslovak president Vaclav Havel were flying to Moscow to make agreement with then Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev, they wrote the declaration on the Soviet troops' departure on a white sheet of paper with a felt tip on the plane.

"It is important to constantly remind of this anniversary. As there is a danger that our occupation will be forgotten," Vondra said.

Former human rights minister Michael Kocab, who as a deputy significantly contributed to the withdrawal of the Soviet troops, mentioned several important moments concerning the withdrawal.

During the departure, pressures emerged with the intention to prolong the withdrawal to five years or terminate it completely, Kocab said.

The Soviet army's departure from Czechoslovakia was divided into three phases that were observed.

Saturday's celebrations will continue with a simulated departure of the Soviet troops and a concert by the Plastic People of the Universe rock band that was banned by the communist regime and its members were arrested for alleged subversive activities in 1976.

Moreover, an exhibition of photographs by Dana Kyndrova mapping the Soviet troops' departure was opened in the Culture House in Milovice Saturday. The display also presents some period items from the Military History Institute.

A documentary film on then Czechoslovak president Ludvik Svoboda's visit to Milovice in 1969 will be screened within the exhibition.

Though the last Soviet soldiers left Milovice 20 years ago, a number of local places still remind of their presence, such as military barracks and "brownfields" contaminated by the army that need to be redeveloped. Milovice wants to force their owners to repair the buildings or at least make them safe.