Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has questioned a new European missile defense initiative, saying existing alliances have produced no results<\/p>\n
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has dismissed two Western-backed military initiatives related to Ukraine, arguing that Prague does not need to be part of them.
\nAsked on Monday whether the Czech Republic would join the newly announced Anti-Ballistic Missile Coalition, aimed at building an architecture against ballistic missile threats, he replied that it would likely become \u201canother declaration from which nothing will come out.\u201d
\n\u201cBeing in some coalition on paper, like the \u2018Coalition of the Willing\u2019, achieved nothing. It never produced anything, just politicians talking. I don\u2019t need to be part of such a coalition,\u201d Babis said, as cited by TASR news agency on Monday.
\n\u201cThe result of the Czech Republic\u2019s participation in the \u2018Coalition of the Willing\u2019 is zero,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
France licenses missile production in Ukraine<\/p>\n
The France and UK-led group has long called for deploying troops in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire, despite Moscow\u2019s repeated warnings that any NATO troops on Ukrainian territory would become legitimate military targets.
\nBabis\u2019 party won last year\u2019s election on a nationalist platform that included reversing the Ukraine aid policy championed by his predecessor, Petr Fiala, and urging a diplomatic resolution of the conflict with Russia instead.
\nBabis\u2019 remarks come amid growing criticism of Western military support for Ukraine among several Central European governments. Earlier this month, Bulgarian Prime Minister Rumen Radev said Sofia had no place in the \u2018Coalition of the Willing\u2019 because it opposed continued military and financial aid to Kiev.
\nSlovak President Peter Pellegrini has likewise ruled out contributing to NATO\u2019s latest \u20ac70 billion ($80 billion) military assistance package for Ukraine, while Hungary has consistently refused to provide military aid.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Bulgaria pulls out of coalition of Ukraine backers<\/p>\n
Russia has condemned the \u2018Coalition of the Willing\u2019 as \u201ca group of countries that doesn\u2019t want peace [and] wants the war to continue.\u201d
\nIt has also repeatedly warned against Western military and financial support for Ukraine, arguing that it only serves to prolong the conflict without altering its outcome, while also increasing the risk of a direct clash between Russia and NATO.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has questioned a new European missile defense initiative, saying existing alliances have produced no results Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has dismissed two Western-backed military…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t