News

Russian President Vladimir Putin should be prosecuted by an international tribunal for the atrocities committed in Ukraine, Czech President Miloš Zeman said in an interview for Radio Free Europe. Speaking for the station’s Ukrainian language service, the head of state attempted to play down his former staunch support for the Russian leader, saying that “circumstances had changed dramatically with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine“. The Czech president admitted that he had misjudged the Russian leader, saying the war in Ukraine had hit him like “a cold shower“.

ANO party leader and former prime minister, Andrej Babiš, has told Czech Television he will not announce whether or not he plans to run for president in the 2003 elections in September as previously planned. Mr. Babiš, who currently appears to have the highest public support for the post, told Czech Television that he would only announce his decision at the last minute. Babiš said that if he decides to run, he will not collect signatures from the public, but rely on the signatures of MPs. He would require 20 signatures and the ANO party has 72 deputies in the lower house.

The average wage in the Czech Republic fell by an average of 3.7 % in real terms in the first quarter of this year due to inflation, the Czech News Agency reported citing data from economic analysts. According to economists, the soaring inflation will continue to devalue wage growth throughout this year and an even bigger real decline can be expected in the second quarter. In nominal terms, wages are estimated to have risen by an average of around 7.2 percent in the first quarter.

A rare ten-ducat coin from the Prague mint during the reign of Frederick the Great from the early 17th century sold for more than ten million crowns at an auction in Prague on Saturday, Roman Veselý of  Aurea Numismatika, told the Czech News Agency. The starting price of the coin was two million crowns.  The auction brought in over 100 million crowns in total.