Czech president Zeman wins re-election

Milos Zeman, among the biggest advocates for dropping
Western sanctions against Russia, won re-election as Czech president in a
second-round vote held on Jan. 27. He earned 52% of the vote, compared to 48%
for his challenger. Last year, Zeman referred to Russia’s illegal annexation of
Crimea as irreversible and suggested compensating the Ukrainian
state monetarily for its loss.

Zenon Zawada: The Czech presidential vote was one of several key elections to be
held in the European Union this year that will likely reveal support for
populist, anti-EU parties is swelling. Populist/nationalist forces are expected
to perform well in the Italian parliamentary election in March, the Hungarian
parliamentary election in April, and the Swedish parliamentary election in
September. It’s this rising tide of nationalism that is encouraging the Russian
leadership to resist any compromise in its conflict with the West over Ukraine,
as well as resist fulfilling the Minsk Accords. The Russians see no point in
making political concessions on Ukraine if they can get sanctions relaxed or
removed in EU legislatures without them.