Foreign Ministry: Prague cannot recover Russian Embassy land except via sale

Prague authorities cannot recover land in use by the Russian Embassy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, because the former Soviet Union received the right to use it in 1972 use free of charge and in perpetuity.

Amid growing tension in Czech-Russian relations, in late April the City Council of Prague 7 had demanded that the Russian Embassy vacate an area of 5,000 square metres that was part of Stromovka Park before being attached to the former Soviet Embassy premises after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the only possibility for Prague 7 to reclaim the land is for the Russian state to sell it, since the agreement signed between the communist governments of that time is protected under international law. The mayor of Prague 7, Jan Čižinský, announced that he will continue to negotiate the issue.