Czech foreign minister: jet fighter deal may affect Czech relations with the U.S.

The Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cyril Svoboda, has warned that the Czech government's decision to acquire Swedish Gripen fighters jets could have a negative effect on Czech-American relations. The CTK news agency quoted unnamed diplomatic sources that this Czech participation in the renewal of Iraq could suffer as a result. On Wednesday, the Czech government decided in favour of the Gripens over U.S.-made F-16s. A few days before, the U.S. ambassador to Prague, Craig Stapleton, had hinted that Czech-American relations could feel an impact if the cabinet selected the Gripens. The government wants to lease 14 new Jas-39 Gripens for over 17 billion crowns for ten years. The modern fighters should replace the ageing Soviet-made MiG-21s by 2005.