Prague, June 13 (CTK) – Relations in the Russian community in the Czech Republic worsened and were politicised last year due to different opinions on the development in Ukraine, Brexit and U.S. foreign policy and because of propaganda, says a report on the situation of ethnic minorities in the country.
The government is to deal with the document, worked out by the secretariat of its council for ethnic minorities, at its regular meeting on Wednesday.
Along with comments by the minorities’ representatives, the report also includes the description of events, information on subsidies and measures taken by particular sectors and town halls.
The government council for minorities is comprised of representatives of 14 minorities, such as the Croatian, German, Polish, Romany, Ruthenian, Russian, Serbian and Ukrainian minorities.
“The existing dividing line between members of the Russian ethnic minority and citizens of the Russian Federation (RF), ensuing from the legislation of the Czech Republic and Russia, which sometimes goes through families, is fading away, while the RF’s propaganda is influencing the division more than ever before,” a Russian representative said in the report.
The relations escalated not only because of the developments in Ukraine, but also due to “the expected weakening of the EU” after Brexit and a change in U.S. foreign policy after Donald Trump became the president, the Russian representative added.
He said “loyal citizens of the Czech Republic” who support democratic values, Czech foreign policy and EU and NATO membership made up the main part of the Russian minority.
Some organisations cooperating with “politicians and political scientists from the margin of the political spectrum in the Czech Republic” promote different opinions, he said.
This situation was also reflected in granting Czech citizenship that can be given after five years of living in the country. The Czech authorities did not grant it for security reasons even to the Russians with permanent residence who were striving for understanding between the minority and the majority and who had been living in the Czech Republic for dozens of years, the report said.
“This is in contradiction with granting citizenship to the people who have constantly opposed the interests of the Czech Republic in public,” the report said.
Without Czech citizenship, foreigners cannot vote and run in elections in the Czech Republic.
Apart from Russians, some Slovaks have also mentioned complicated relations within their minority.
A Slovak representative in the government council said the establishment of the Slovak House in Prague without previous discussions with Slovak associations had caused tension in the Slovak minority. However, the other representative dismissed this.
The minorities’ representatives in the government council are complaining about the lack of funds for their activities.
Representatives of the Romany minority point out the discrimination against Romanies at work and in housing. They also mind having only a little influence on the tackling of Romany problems.
The Vietnamese mentioned their businessmen’ problems with the introduction of the electronic sales registration (EET).
Minorities’ representatives also pointed to xenophobic attacks and intolerance in the Czech Republic.
The 2012 report on national minorities also focused on the Russian minority. It said “Cossack organisations – uniformed armed units started being formed in the Czech Republic on the initiative of the embassy and the Kremlin administration” in the past few years. These associations are directly commanded from the Kremlin, they are fulfilling Russian power goals, attempting to infiltrate state structures and forming “Russia’s fifth column,” the report said.
The information stirred up a sharp Russian reaction. The government withdrew the approved report then and debated its new wording.
The 2016 report on minorities mentioned two Cossack paramilitary organisations.
