Consternation after Czech delegation held up for four hours at Moscow airport

A Czech delegation on their way to unveil memorials to Czechoslovak legionnaires in Russia was held up for more than four hours at Moscow Airport on Thursday. The deputy chairman of the Czech lower house, who is heading the delegation, has described what happened as a serious incident.

Petr Gazdík, photo: Filip Jandourek

A Czech Army plane carrying the deputy speaker of the Czech lower house, Petr Gazdík, officials from the Czech Ministry of Defence, and war veterans arrived at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Thursday morning.

They were due to pick up Czech diplomats before continuing on to Ulyanovsk and Syzran to attend the unveiling of monuments to Czechoslovak WW1 legionnaires who met their deaths in Russia.

The trip had been organised long in advance and the Czech diplomats had passed through passport control. Despite this, Russian customs officials insisted on the original group disembarking and carrying out checks.

Mr. Gazdík described the situation as a serious diplomatic incident and an insult to the Czech Republic.

On the line from the airport he told Czech Television that the delegation were being kept in the dark as to the reasons for the hold-up.

“We don’t have official information as to why we have to wait. The only thing we know, which we have heard from some representatives of the Russian side, is that it is for political reasons – which strikes me as incredible. I can’t imagine the Czech Republic holding the deputy chairman of the Russian state Duma for several hours at Prague Airport. That would be a serious diplomatic incident.”

The Czech Embassy in Moscow immediately sent a diplomatic note to the Russian authorities in connection with the incident.

Jan Hamáček, photo: Jiří Němec

Speaking in Prague, the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies, Jan Hamáček, said Russian officials had evidently insisted there was a lack of documentation concerning the Czech diplomats who joined the group in Moscow.

“I contacted the embassy of the Russian Federation and I expressed my disquiet and protest over the situation, and I’m awaiting a response. I informed the president and the prime minister about the matter. I just hope that the whole thing turns out to have been a misunderstanding and that it is cleared up very soon.”

The Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a statement saying that Russia believed the incident was indeed the result of an unfortunate misunderstanding.

After the flurry of diplomatic activity, the Czech delegation were eventually allowed to leave Moscow. Defence Ministry officials had been due to present honours in Ulyanovsk to veterans of the liberation of Czechoslovakia, but due to the delay that part of the programme had to be abandoned.