Czech president Klaus visits Moscow

The Czech president, Václav Klaus, met with the Russian leader, Dmitry Medvedev, in Moscow on Wednesday. Mr Klaus told reporters after a two-hour meeting that he would not abandon the condition he had set down for finalizing the ratification of EU’s Lisbon treaty but that he wouldn’t “send out signals” about his next steps concerning the document’s ratification. Both politicians discussed issues related to Czech-Russian cooperation; Mr Klaus invited his Russian counterpart to visit Prague.

Last week, Václav Klaus announced he would not complete the ratification of the Lisbon treaty unless the Czech Republic is granted an exception form the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights. He said it could lead to property claims from ethnic Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after WWII.