Ambassador to Moscow counters Paroubek statement

In related news, the Czech Ambassador to Moscow Miroslav Kostelka has taken issue with a statement which Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek made in an interview he gave a Moscow radio station while in Russia. In the interview, Mr Paroubek maintained that ties between Russia and the Czech Republic had worsened significantly over the last three years, when the Czech Republic was led by the former centre-right government. The Czech ambassador said he disagreed with the statement, suggesting that although there had been some wrinkles at the political level, ties between the two countries overall remained very good.