Human rights commissioner says clash over Russian Cossacks behind her dismissal

The government’s former human rights commissioner Monika Šimůnková has accused the Rusnok cabinet of downplaying the security threat presented by Russian Cossacks in the Czech Republic as a concession to Moscow. Mrs. Šimůnková, who was dismissed as head of the government’s human rights section and later resigned as human rights commissioner said the real reason for her removal from office was a clash over an annual report on the state of minorities in the Czech Republic. She said the report she handed the government contained a warning regarding the risk presented by the cultural association of Russian Cossacks who were actively disseminating Russian propaganda. The prime minister allegedly ordered the passage to be scrapped in order not to antagonize Russia. The former human right’s commissioner has also accused the government of trying to marginalize the human rights agenda and bring it under the interior ministry.