“It can be seen that Russia is not abandoning its appetites. Those provocations are happening and will continue to happen, because it also pays for them that similar destabilization and sabotage occur in various states. The Poles are a successful example,” reacts to the events in Poland, the newly elected head of the parliamentary defense committee, Josef Flek (STAN).
In a neighboring country, there was sabotage on the railway line over the weekend, along which, among other things, weapons for Ukraine are transported. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the event a diversionary action. “From the point of view of the security of the Polish state, this is perhaps the most serious situation ever since the outbreak of the all-out war in Ukraine,” he subsequently said in parliament.
According to the Polish government, the perpetrators are men with Ukrainian citizenship who cooperated with Russian services. After the sabotage, they fled through the Terespol border crossing to Belarus. One of them was already convicted in the past for diversionary actions on the territory of Ukraine.
Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski described the sabotage as an “act of state terrorism”, and subsequently promised that Poland would not let the matter go unnoticed. At the same time, he also specified that the answer will not be only diplomatic.
Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz added on Tuesday that the Polish army would deploy 10,000 troops to help protect the security of critical infrastructure.
“The Russian soldier will not walk on Wenceslas Square, he will send a drone.”
Outgoing Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala (ODS) said about the events in Poland that “we must not be naive and underestimate the risks we face”.
But Poland is not the only one facing similar “tests” from Russia. For example, there is a Russian spy ship in British waters. British Defense Minister John Healey said the vessel was tracking British underwater cables and that London was ready to intervene militarily if the ship became a threat.
The chairman of the defense committee, Flek, is therefore talking about the fact that, according to him, the Czech Republic should “prepare to the maximum” for possible security risks.
“We must prepare to deter Russia. It will continue to provoke, testing the reaction of the North Atlantic Alliance. We must be firm and cooperation must be at the maximum level,” says Flek. According to him, it is also essential to understand how saboteurs proceed during similar attacks, how they attack and what they focus on.
Photo: Michal Turek, Seznam Zpravy
Head of the Parliamentary Defense Committee, Josef Flek.
“One way is consultations. We want to use this in a fortnight at the V4 meeting, where there will be representatives of Poland, with whom we will evaluate the situation. The second thing is to exercise active reserves, a professional army, so that we are ready for that situation,” adds Flek, stating that, for example, active reserves are being exercised regarding the protection of critical infrastructure.
In addition, Flek mentions what challenges in the field of defense he thinks parliamentarians should address in the future. “For me, it is interesting that, according to the legislation, critical infrastructure has the ability to, for example, detect a drone, but it no longer has the ability to shoot it down, neutralize it, interrupt its signal,” he describes, adding that, according to him, it is necessary to respond to similar shortcomings in the future.
Deputy and deputy chairman of the security committee Hubert Lang (ANO) also talks about something similar. According to him, it is crucial to secure the airspace.
“A Russian soldier will not walk on Wenceslas Square, that’s a really naive idea that I sometimes hear. If the Russians wanted to attack us, they would probably send a missile or long-range drones here. And we really don’t have an adequate response to that today. Our air defense is basically in ruins,” he says.
According to Lang, the Czech Republic cannot rely 100% on NATO to solve everything. “If a long-range drone were to arrive from the airspace of Belarus or the Russian Federation, the big question is whether we are able to detect it in the territory of the first member states, but not everything has to be caught,” he adds.
The Security Committee is planning an emergency meeting
Both MPs – albeit from different political camps – nevertheless agree that the Czech Republic is not a state of “targeted attack”. However, Lang adds that he thinks more information and details are needed.
“Since we have experience from Vrbětice, of course not only journalists but also citizens turn to us. For that reason, we have convened an extraordinary meeting of the security committee on this issue next Tuesday. Representatives of all three secret services should also participate. They will acquaint us with the situation, tell us their point of view and share what they know from their Polish counterparts,” adds Lang.
Photo: Michal Turek, Seznam Zpravy
Deputy Hubert Lang.
Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Defense Jindřich Rajchl (for the SPD) thinks that it is necessary to get more information about what is happening in Poland. He himself says he wants to wait until the investigation by the Polish authorities moves on.
“This is a very serious matter, but I would very much appeal for restraint and a reasonable approach,” he responded to Sikorský’s words that the railway sabotage was an act of state terrorism. He subsequently added that, if necessary, the Czech Republic should participate in the investigation of the incident.
“But really, let’s not jump to hasty conclusions about who is the originator of the sabotage. Because these intelligence games can be different, and throughout the duration of the war, we witnessed many events where we knew very quickly who it was and why he did it, only to find out later that everything is completely different,” adds Rajchl, saying that he would not like to rattle the “war chain”.
