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05/05/2018
The Night Wolves, a Russian motorcycle club known for its staunch nationalism and close ties to Vladimir Putin, is making several appearances in the Czech Republic in connection with the end-of-war celebrations. They attended a commemorative ceremony in Silesia on Friday and are expected to return to the Czech Republic on Sunday.
The Russian bikers’ presence in the country is highly controversial. They claim they are paying homage to Red Army soldiers who died liberating Czechoslovakia, but critics see their rides as politically provocative and Russian propaganda.
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05/05/2018
Thousands of people joined Saturday’s march through Prague in support of legalisation of marihuana in the Czech Republic. The ‘Million Marihuana March’ is an annual event culminating with a happening on Stvanice Island that includes the sale of technical marihuana products, concerts and debates.
Marihuana is legal for the treatment of certain medical conditions but possession of more than a small amount is still an offence.
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05/05/2018
Freedom celebrations continue in the West Bohemian town of Plzen, marking the 73rd anniversary of the liberation of the city by General Patton’s Army. Thousands of people on Saturday welcomed the Convoy of Liberty, with its 220 historic military vehicles, which is traditionally one of the highlights of the celebrations. Seven US and Belgian war veterans who helped liberate the city are attending the celebrations this year.
The Liberation Festival in the city traditionally lasts for several days and includes street happenings, concerts and the chance to see a reconstructed US military camp from that period. The celebrations continue on Sunday at the town’s memorial to the US army with an event called Thank You, America!
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05/05/2018
The Czech Foreign Ministry has ruled out the possibility that the nerve agent tested in the Czech Republic could have been used in the attack against Russian double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Britain.
The Foreign Ministry issued the statement in response to President Zeman’s claim that a minute amount of the nerve-gas Novichok had been produced and tested in the Czech Republic. The president was citing a military intelligence report.
The Foreign Ministry said that a few millilitres of a nerve gas of the Novichok family labelled A-230 was produced, tested, and destroyed by the Czech Military Research Institute in Brno. “The nerve-paralysing poison used in the U.K. attack is called A-234 and is therefore a different variant than the one tested by the Czech military institute for purposes of defence" the ministry statement said.
It moreover stressed that the substance tested in Brno was immediately disposed of by the laboratory and is not stored anywhere, as was the case with the A230 substance. The Brno institute functions with the approval of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
Meanwhile, President Zeman has come under fire for disclosing classified information from a military intelligence report. According to Czech law this is punishable by up to three years in prison, but the president has immunity from prosecution and can only be impeached on grounds of treason.
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05/04/2018
Foreign Minister Martin Stropnický is preparing to exit high politics and become the next Czech ambassador to Israel, news site aktualne.cz reported Friday, citing sources in ANO and the current government. Mr Stropnický, who was defence minister prior and has served in diplomacy before (in the Vatican, Italy, and Portugal) is an actor by profession.
He was named foreign minister in the current government in resignation in December of last year.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Michaela Lagronová said the ministry would issue a statement only when the supposed candidate received his credentials.
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05/04/2018
Nerve agents such as the poison Novichok are synthesized in the Czech Republic as part of anti-chemical defence program, the Czech Defence Ministry said in a statement issued on Friday. The maximum amount produced is several micrograms and the substance is destroyed immediately after testing, the ministry added.
The ministry also said that while substances such as Novichok were potentially poisonous chemicals, they were used for testing detection and defence capabilities and the training of the country’s anti-chemical unit. Such substances, it stressed, were synthesized under the strictest controls and security. It called the chance of extraction from special labs “zero”.
It is thought that between 50 to 100 grams of Novichok was used against the Skripals in the attack in Salisbury.
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05/04/2018
Czech President Miloš Zeman has come under fire from political opponents following an interview on TV Barrandov on Thursday in which he maintained, according to a military intelligence report, that a small amount of the deadly nerve agent Novichok was produced in the Czech Republic.
Novichok was used in a brazen attack on British soil against a former Russian double agent and his daughter earlier this year. Great Britain says the evidence points to Russia.
A second Czech civil intelligence report contradicted the findings and the president’s words but Zeman said he preferred the military version. Petr Gazdík, the head of the smallest party in the lower house, STAN, tweeted a tough response, suggesting that Mr Zeman could easily be considered an agent of Moscow. He said the president not only contradicted the country’s foreign ministry but also provided fuel for Russian media.
The president has been accused of being a vocal supporter of Russia and apologist for Mr Putin on numerous occasions in the past, including the recent election where a FEMEN woman activist stripped to the waist and declared the president was Mr Putin’s “slut”.
The head of the Civic Democrats, Petr Fiala echoed Mr Gazdík’s words, saying the president had hurt the country’s position and only fueled Russian propaganda.
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05/04/2018
Saturday should be sunny with daytime temperatures expected to reach highs of around 22 degrees Celsius.
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05/04/2018
Czech police have detained and charged three Czechs with human trafficking and other criminal offences. The trio, two males and one female, are suspected of having preyed on poor people in Most, North Bohemia, promising legal and well-paid employment in Great Britain, but allegedly brutalizing them upon their arrival in Manchester and taking away their passports.
The spokesman for the National Centre Against Organised Crime Jaroslav Ibehej said they were made to do numerous tasks. At least some of them were forced into prostitution and sex online.
All three of the suspects have been remanded in custody. Detectives charge that the three were involved in criminal activity between the years 2012 and 2017, and possibly longer. The trio brought at least 15 people to Great Britain, four of them women.
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05/04/2018
Russian diplomacy has seized upon words by Czech President Miloš Zeman on Thursday regarding the deadly nerve agent Novichok, taking issue with Great Britain and the claim that the nerve agent was only ever produced in the former Soviet Union. On Thursday, on TV Barrandov which regularly interviews the head of state, President Zeman said Czechia had produced the Novichok nerve agent in a small amount for testing but it was then destroyed.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were targeted in England and barely survived. Great Britain maintains that all of the evidence points to Moscow.
The spokeswoman for Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova was quoted by the Russian media as saying “the fog was lifting”. She charged that "lies" by the May administration were "growing more apparent".
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