West provoked new cold war with Russia, ex-president Klaus tells Russian TV

Former Czech president Václav Klaus told the Russian TV channel Dozhd that the crisis in Ukraine was a continuation of the Cold War that has been provoked by the West. In an interview for the independent TV station, Mr Klaus said the West had used Ukraine’s internal problems to start a new phase of the conflict, and that Russia’s response was a reaction to events in Ukraine, and not their original cause. The former Czech president also suggested that Ukraine was an artificial country that was likely to disintegrate.