News

President Miloš Zeman says he will for a fourth time reject the government's proposal to promote Michal Koudelka, head of the national counter-intelligence agency (BIS), to the rank of general.

This spring, the Czech president objected to charges made in the BIS annual report that Russian and Chinese spies are spreading disinformation and engaging in economic espionage in this country.

In his regular weekly interview on commercial station TV Barrandov, President Zeman said the BIS director should focus “real economic crime” in the Czech Republic rather than engaging in a “fictitious hunt for Russian and Chinese spies”.

Koudelka noted earlier this week that BIS had helped dismantled a spy network funded by the Russian Embassy in Prague.

The lower house of Parliament has approved the agenda of an extraordinary meeting to discuss raising taxes on alcohol and tobacco products, as well as increasing a parental support subsidy.

Monday’s initial meeting was called by MPs from ANO-Social Democrat minority government, as well as deputies from the Communist party.

The government proposals raising the parental allowance to CZK 300,000 as of January, up from CZK 220,000 now. Opposition parties support the idea but want a wider range of families to be eligible for it.

The Russian Embassy has slammed the vandalizing of statues commemorating the Red Army, which liberated the country from Nazi oppression in 1945.

A statue to the Red Army in Brno was splattered with red paint on Thursday, less than a day after vandals covered another Red Army statue with paint in the town of Ostrava.

A similar attack took place against Soviet Marshall Ivan Konev’s statue in Prague 6 in August, on the anniversary of the Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia.

The Russian Embassy said on its Facebook page that these barbaric acts were an attempt to damage Czech-Russian relations.

The vandalism was also condemned by Czech Foreign Minister Tomáš Petříček who tweeted that taking out one’s anger and frustration on historic symbols was pathetic and could only damage the country’s reputation.

President Miloš Zeman is being treated for a nutritional disorder resulting in muscle loss and impaired muscle function, notable especially in the legs, according to a report released by the Central Military Hospital in Prague on Thursday.

During the president’s four day stay in hospital he received comprehensive treatment focused on the training of walking and standing stereotypes, supplemented by other rehabilitation procedures. Intensified nutrition was applied intravenously.

President Zeman has dropped 20 kilos in the past two years and suffers from loss of appetite, the report said. He was also found to be dehydrated and complained he had balance problems.

The president’s spokesman earlier described the hospitalization as a "reconditioning stay“. According to earlier reports, Zeman, 75, has low blood pressure, diabetes and neuropathy that makes walking difficult.