Czechast with President Petr Pavel and photographer Stanislav Krupař
Your first thought will probably be: what a strange combination of guests. But bear with me.
As I am recording this episode, a NATO summit is in full swing in faraway Washington, DC, and Czechia is, quite naturally, represented by its president, Petr Pavel. Before he became a politician, he had a very long and successful military career. He served as Chairman of the NATO Military Committee from 2015 to 2018, and before that, he was the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces between 2012 and 2015. I spoke to him in 2019 when this country was celebrating 20 years of NATO membership, and among other things, we talked about the Russian threat to Ukraine:
"We wished that Russia wouldn't do that. We wished for an open realtionship with Russia, for the possibility of a balanced relationship."
So, even though I recorded the interview 5 years ago, it is very relevant today, when Russians are threatening not just Ukraine but free Europe in general. And, as you will hear, Stanislav Krupař is an award-winning photographer who spent many years in Siberia and then the last two years documenting the unnecessary, terrible, and brutal conflict started by the Russian president, Vladimir Vladimirovič Putin:
"The catastrophy is happening right in front of our eyes and I feel somehow responsible, too. I blame myself for the naivite and wrong estimate of the seriousness of the Russian threat. That is my motivation, what brings me again and again and again back to Ukraine to this horrible war which is happening there."
That is how these two Czechast guests connect.
about programme
Czechast, Radio Prague International
Czechast is a regular RPI podcast about Czech and Moravian culture, history, and economy.
