Czech Republic dismisses Russian warning over providing Soviet-era weapons to Ukraine

The Czech Foreign Ministry has dismissed a warning from Russia that the Czech Republic has no right to provide weapons of Soviet provenance to third countries without its consent. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavský said this argument was nonsensical, since there was no clause in the old purchasing contracts prohibiting the re-export of military equipment. He said the Czech Republic would not respond to the diplomatic note.

Russia has been trying to stop military support to Ukraine, warning the US and other Western states that their arms supplies to Ukraine were fueling the conflict and could result in "unpredictable consequences".