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Radim Fiala, a deputy leader of the Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party, is standing by his remarks questioning Russia’s role in the 2014 explosions at the Vrbětice ammunition depots. He said it was up to investigators, courts and the intelligence service to convince him otherwise. Ministers from ANO disagree with Fiala’s claims. ANO party leader and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš previously said there was well-founded suspicion that Russian military intelligence was behind the attack. Education Minister Robert Plaga said the evidence presented by police and the Security Information Service had been clear. Two people were killed in the explosions at Vrbětice, which Czech authorities later linked to officers of Russia’s GRU.

ANO party leader and Prime Minister Andrej Babiš says Filip Turek, the honorary president of the Motorists’ party, should be given the opportunity to become a minister and convince the public that he wants to work through his past and controversial statements. Writing on Instagram, Babiš said Turek deserved a chance to prove himself, even if some issues “do not look ideal”. The Motorists’ party insists on Turek’s nomination to lead the environment ministry. Babiš is set to discuss the matter with President Petr Pavel, who has previously signalled he would not appoint Turek. Turek has faced criticism over racist and homophobic social media posts, for which he has apologised, while denying authorship of some.

The Czech Supreme Audit Office (Supreme Audit Office) says efforts to digitalise passport and visa services have failed, leaving officials reliant on manual data entry, paper files and couriers. Systems used by the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs remain poorly interconnected, despite hundreds of millions of crowns earmarked for upgrades. According to auditors, work on new systems costing more than CZK 700 million has not yet begun. Delays have been blamed on missed deadlines, late legislation and funding issues, with both ministries still running parallel systems at sharply increased costs.

The Czech Republic’s under-20 ice hockey team defeated Canada 6–4 in the semi-finals of the IIHF World Junior Championship and will play for gold against Sweden. Tomáš Poletín scored the winning goal in the 59th minute, with Vojtěch Čihař adding an empty-netter 26 seconds from the end, his second goal of the game. The Czechs have reached the final for the first time in three years and will chase their first gold since 2001. With silver and two bronzes from recent tournaments, they have now secured a fourth straight medal. Canada will face Finland in the bronze-medal game.