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Hundreds of town halls, schools and institutions around the Czech Republic are expected to join the Flag for Tibet initiative expressing support for Tibetan independence. The Flag for Tibet initiative traditionally takes place on March 10th marking the anniversary of the 1959 Tibetan uprising in Lhasa which was brutally suppressed by the Chinese regime. The event is traditionally accompanied by lectures, film screenings and exhibitions documenting Tibetan history and culture.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said he was unperturbed by claims that a document in the archives of the Czech communist secret police contains details of a meeting between members of the then secret police and Andrej Babiš, who now holds the finance ministry portfolio. Details of the document in which Mr. Babiš talks about bribery in the firm Petrimex, are to be published in Monday’s edition of Euro magazine. Mr. Sobotka said none of the information was new or surprising and that Mr. Babiš had repeatedly explained that a foreign trade employee under the communist regime he had been unable to avoid questioning by the secret service. He has rejected the idea that he actively collaborated with the communist secret service as an agent and is trying to clear his name in court in neighbouring Slovakia where he appeared on a list of communist police collaborators.

Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka said the Višegrad Group’s appeal to the United States to boost natural gas exports to Europe was part of the Czech government’s long-term goal to improve the country’s energy security and lower its dependence on oil and gas supplies from Russia. The Czech prime minister said during EU talks in Brussels that the development in Ukraine had emphasized the need to improve energy security in Europe, noting that the EU would be in a better position to respond to the Crimean crisis were it not dependent on Russian oil and gas. The ambassadors of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary on Friday asked the US to boost natural gas exports to Europe as a hedge against the possibility that Russia could cut off its supply of gas to Ukraine.

Demonstrations against the Russian intervention in Crimea were held in four Czech cities over the weekend. The protests, held under the motto "For Your and Our Freedom", were staged in Prague, Brno, Plzen and Karlovy Vary, and were attended by Ukrainians and Russians living in the Czech Republic as well as Czechs concerned about the recent developments in Crimea. Among those who joined the protest in Prague was the former foreign minister Karel Schwarzenberg who said he felt the need to show solidarity with Ukraine in this this difficult time. He recalled that the Czechs experienced twice what the Ukrainians are experiencing today, making a reference to the German occupation in 1939 and the Soviet-led invasion in 1968.