President Klaus says Russia is not a threat

President Klaus said in an interview for the Russian daily Kommersant that the Czech government’s plans to host a US radar base on Czech soil were not directed against Russia. Mr. Klaus said that he did not think that in the present day Russia posed a security threat to the Czech Republic and emphasized that Prague and Moscow were not enemies. The Czech president said that it was wrong to portray Moscow as a potential aggressor.

The statement came just a day after an opinion poll indicated that 41 percent of Czechs still believe the Czech Republic has reason to fear Russia. In a poll conducted in connection with the anniversary, two thirds of Czechs said they did not think Russia was a democratic country and forty percent of respondents said Moscow was to blame for the military conflict with Georgia.