Czech President calls to keep an eye on russians in Western countries

Czech President Petr Pavel compared russians in Europe to the Japanese population in the United States during World War II and called on Western intelligence agencies to keep a close eye on them.

Source. He said this in an interview with Radio Liberty:

"I believe that, as in the case of a number of global conflicts in the past, during the war, security measures against russian citizens should be stricter than in normal times. So, all russian citizens living in Western countries should be monitored much more closely than before. Because they are citizens of a nation that is waging an aggressive war. I may feel sorry for these people, but at the same time, if we look back to the time when World War II began, the entire Japanese population living in the United States was also under strict surveillance. This is simply the price of war," he said.

During World War II, the U.S. government forcibly transferred at least 125,000 Japanese, more than half of whom were American citizens, to camps called "military relocation centers." In 1948, the interned Japanese were paid partial compensation for the loss of their property. In the late 1980s, the American authorities issued an official apology to the victims of the repressions.

Speaking about the leaders of the russian opposition, Petr Pavel noted that "it is extremely important to listen to these people because they have deep inside knowledge of russia and they can tell us this, because not many people really understand how russians think."

"But at the same time, we have to look for other people who will come forward later. And then, when the war is over and relations with russia begin to normalize, we should probably give an opportunity to those people who are capable and brave enough to speak out: invite them to various conferences, let them speak at our universities, so that we understand the meaning of the russians' actions. Because only when we understand how they think can we come up with good measures and good proposals that will work," he said.

Petr Pavel also mentioned the story of a Ukrainian refugee who was bullied by Czech children. The video of the bullying was posted online by the girl's mother, who came to the Czech Republic from Korosten. When the children at school asked her if she was russian, the girl replied that she was Ukrainian. Then the students said that russia was "better" and "stronger." Polina responded by saying that "russia is sh*t," and they spat in her face.

The Czech president met with the girl and expressed his support. "I just felt that it was the right thing to do because I was angry when I learned about what happened. And since we were just organizing the Children's Day in Grad, I thought it would be a great opportunity to invite her, to let her enjoy hospitality and friendship," he told Radio Liberty.

Commenting on the general fatigue with Ukrainian refugees, he explained that this is a natural phenomenon:

"It just comes with time. What we can do about it is to repeat to people the real picture of what is happening there, and not to let people think that the war is over or no longer affects us, the Czechs, or people living in Ukraine."

Background. As a reminder, the Czech Republic plans to take over the restoration of Dnipropetrovs'k region. According to the Czech ambassador to Ukraine, this region ranks third in terms of the number of Czech companies located there.