Czech president calls upon compensating Ukraine for loss of Crimea

Czech President Milos Zeman called the Russian
Federation’s annexation of Crimea a fait accompli and suggested compensating
Ukraine for the loss in remarks on Oct. 10 to the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe. “There will be some compensation for Ukraine, whether in a
financial form, or with oil or natural gas,” he said in his response to a
Ukrainian MP, as reported by the eurotinteration.com.ua news site.
He acknowledged the annexation was illegal but said returning Crimea to Ukraine
“will mean a European war.” A war is also inevitable if Ukraine continues its
efforts to return Crimea, he said. “We should avoid a European war and you
should understand that,” he said.

Afterwards, the Czech Embassy in Ukraine clarified
that Zeman was expressing his own personal opinion, and not the position of the
Czech government. As its response, the Ukrainian delegation to the
parliamentary assembly, led by First Vice Speaker Iryna Gerashchenko, condemned
the remarks as horrific in its cynicism. “Ukraine is not going to trade its
citizens, territory, sovereignty, honor or dignity,” she wrote on her Facebook
page.